Against All Odds
by Crimson Dutchess
Summary: What happens when the most popular boy at ORB High, Athrun Zala, has a thing for an outcast, Cagalli Yula Atha?  Could this odd confrontation lead to something more serious?  Read to find out.  Highschool setting, AsuCaga.
1. Initial Glances

**Chapter One: Initial Glances**

Couple: AthrunXCagalli

Genre: Romance, Humour, Drama

Summary: What happens when the most popular boy, Athrun Zala, has a thing for an outcast, Cagalli Yula Atha? Could this odd confrontation lead to something more serious? Read to find out.

* * *

'_Another average fangirl-filled day,_' thought Athrun as he signed the last of the hormone-driven teenaged girls' books. He would often wonder why so many schoolgirls adored him so much. After all, he was just an amazingly attractive seventeen year old teenage male who attended ORB High in the eleventh grade. Oh wait. Maybe that _was _the reason. '_Whatever…_' he mentally sighed.

After lunch period, he joined his friends; Kira, Dearka, Yzak, and Nicol for math. "Hey guys! Ready for a boring lesson with Mr. Creuset?"

"To hell with that masked retard!!" the platinum blonde exclaimed with anger.

"Oh not math class…" Dearka sighed in anguish.

"I think the man's corrupt." stated the brunette.

"What are you guys talking about? Math class is the best! It's so fun and interesting..." the green haired boy pleaded, but then paused as his friends stared at him wide-eyed. "What?".

"…" they were silent the rest of the way to math class.

As they entered the room, they were welcomed by a "you're late" from Mr. Creuset. They were instructed to sit and listen to the boring review on equations for the next twenty minutes. Obviously bored, Athrun peered around the room looking at all the other people in the room, then stared at one particular blonde two rows ahead of him who seemed to be drawing a crazy picture of some masked guy. Wait a minute. It was Mr. Creuset! '_What a naughty girl!_' was the first thought to pass his mind.

He decided to take a closer look at it and leaned over the side of his chair. He still couldn't get a close enough look because someone's fat elbow was in the way. So he leaned further. Still the elbow! He leaned even further. Finally the guy moved his elbow as he secretly grabbed a snack from his desk. Athrun leaned further to get the best look possible, then the guy in front of him replaced his arm on the desk. The blue-haired boy lost all concentration, and all was heard was a thud, then a burst of laughter. "Well Zala, you're getting a little anxious there aren't you?" called a voice from the masked-man. Athrun's face turned red as a tomato before class had just ended.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Oh great," Athrun moaned as he walked to art class alone. The only class where he was with none of his friends and was filled with boring Picasso, DiVinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and other old artists work. Obviously this wasn't going to be fun, considering there was an art assignment due today and he was going to face not turning it in. He stepped in the classroom and took his seat as Mrs. Ramius began to call people up to present their work.

"As you know students, today is the day you present your drawings of someone you know, in a cartoon way. So who wants to go first?" she asked as the blonde's hand went flying into the air and waved wildly.

"Ooh, ooh!! Pick me!! Pick me!!!" she screamed excitedly.

"Alright Miss Atha. Come to the front of the class and present your work on the overhead." the teacher instructed. The blonde raced her way towards the front of the classroom, then smacked her lined paper on the overhead, and turned it on. The class was filled with laughter and a disgusted expression came upon Ms. Ramius' face. It was her drawing from math class. "MISS ATHA!! GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE NOW!!" the teacher screamed as the blonde ran out of the room with a huge grin on her face.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun decided to skip final period due to the fact it was only gym class and he really didn't feel like running twenty laps today. So he decided to walk down to Mr. Dullindal's office out of curiosity. He started to eavesdrop and heard a strange conversation between the blonde and the principal.

"Miss Atha this is the third time this week! What do you think your father's going to think of this?"

"I don't give a rats ass about what my father thinks! He doesn't even pay much attention to me considering he's too busy taking care of his precious country!"

"We'll see about that!" he exclaimed grabbing the phone and dialing the number to the Atha residence.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"I'm calling your father and reporting your behavior. You've gone too far Miss Atha!"

"No!! Don't! I promise I won't do it again. I promise. Give me a chance!"

"Fine," he said hanging up "Only one more chance. Do it again, and I will call your father."

"I promise I won't." she said leaving the room. Athrun hid behind the corner of a wall. The blonde pressed on to get her stuff and leave.

Outside, Athrun lounged around the parking lot listening to his mp3 player when he heard yelling and laughing. He walked towards the noise, then hid behind the wall as he watched the horrible sight. Three of his probably top fangirls bullying a familiar blonde. They shot insults at her simultaneously, and her books and paper were scattered everywhere. He decided not to interfere, seeing as word would spread around the school thus ruining his reputation.

"You stupid little bitch. Why are you so ugly?? You look like a freak so you should be one you ugly beast!" a pink-haired girl spat at her.

"I'd rather be a freak than a prostitute!" the blonde screamed as she punched the opposing girl's nose, causing it to bleed.

"WHAT!? I'm BLEEDING!! It's ruining my lip gloss and new dress!! You'll pay for this beast!" She screamed as she ran away crying as her friends ran after her.

"Bitch asked for it.". The blonde said to herself as she started picking up her scattered books. Athrun spotted a pen by his foot then picked it up and walked over to her.

"Uh… is this yours?" he asked.

"Hey!! What're you doing with that?? Give me my pen!!" she screamed at him as she grabbed her pen before falling into realization. "Wait… aren't you that guy who fell off his chair at math class?" she asked as she remembered him being the host in the earlier incident.

"You didn't need to take it from me like that! And yes I am. Who are you?"

"None of your business!!" she spat back at him as she sped past him and left the school. Athrun was about to chase after her, before he decided not to and sighed before heading home.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know this chapter really sucked. Well then again, the first chapter of every story is a bitch. This is my third fic, but it feels like my first XD. It's been a year since I last wrote one. Btw, I have this story up to chapter 8, working on 9, and I'm releasing a chapter every week after I release the next 2 chapters. Please leave some love . 

Kai

P.S. Chapters 2 and 3 are kickass so please continue reading!


	2. Confrontation

**Chapter Two: Confrontation**

All was peace and quiet until an alarm woke an extremely sleepy blonde who in turn, smacked the crap out of the alarm clock making an attempt to cease the ringing noise. "SHUT THE HELL UP!!" she screamed before succeeding in her actions, then falling back asleep. Her dreams were abruptly interrupted when she heard a hard knock on the door from her father.

"Wake up Cagalli! You'll be late for school if you sleep any longer!"

"Screw school, just give me another five minutes!"

"Cagalli!! I will not accept this behavior on a daily basis," he announced before the door flew open and the blonde was tossed out of bed onto the floor.

"Ouch! You made me hit my head on the wall!!"

"I'm sure you'll survive. Now get dressed and meet me downstairs for breakfast." he said briefly before leaving the room.

"Geez, what a hardhead." she said under her breath as she got undressed. She stopped to look at herself in the mirror and thought '_boy, I am ugly'_ before throwing her uniform on. She started to run a comb through her hair rushingly, not caring whether it would turn out good or not. After she decided it looked suitable enough, she started towards the door before an image of the blue-haired boy raced across her mind. She stood there for about ten minutes going through her train of thoughts. She thought '_wonder what his intentions were' _or '_why did he stop to help me_' and sometimes even '_I guess he was a little cute… wait what am I saying!?_'. She shook the thoughts out of her head before even thinking of the time. She gazed at the clock and out came "HOLY SHIT IT'S 8:25 ALREADY!?!". Then she dashed downstairs, drank her orange juice, grabbed a piece of toast and her bag, then flew out the door.

**X-X-X-X-X**

As she made her way to the school, still running, her marathon was interrupted by the barricade of the three girls she hated the most; Meer, LunaMaria, and Meyrin. "Shit!" she cussed under her breath.

"Well, well, who do we have here? BEAST?? I'm sorry, but this school is for humans, you don't belong here." the pink haired girl teased.

"Wonder how the let you in…" Cagalli smirked.

"UGH! Who do you think you are you bitch!"

"Your worst nightmare prostitute." as Cagalli said that, she pulled a fake spider out of her pocket and threw it at Meer and laughed in amusement.

"AHHHHHH GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!" she screamed as the other girls panicked and ran away.

"It's a toy, retard."

"IT'S FREAKING SCARY!! GET IT OFF!" she complained.

"Too bad," the blonde said as she continued her mad dash towards the school. She looked back at the still screaming Meer, then felt herself collide into a solid object causing them both to fall over. "AGH! Watch where you're going will yo-" she trailed off as she recognized who it was.

"Uh… sorry about that, I should've been watching my surroundings." he apologized.

"It's you! You're that guy who took my pen yesterday!!"

"I didn't take it. I was giving it back to you."

"Whatever! You're still that guy!"

"It's Athrun." he managed to get out before the bell rang.

"Crap gotta make it to class!! See ya!" she said as she ran towards the school. Athrun just stared at her with a confused expression on his face.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Cagalli arrived in class at the perfect time, which she was moderately proud about; but she'd be happier if it wasn't science class. Chemistry is just… boring. At least to her. She enjoyed dissecting frogs more than mixing chemicals. She even liked physics better than this. Cagalli sighed as she dropped her books on her desk and sat down to listen to yet another one of Mr. Flaga's boring introduction speeches. She barely listened to it but instead popped her headphones into her ears and ignored it. She looked over at the blue-haired boy… or 'Athrun' a couple desks to the right to see what he was up to. She had no idea why, but he seemed to be very enthusiastic about it. After a while, Athrun noticed she was looking at him and looked back at her. She immediately turned her head away feeling ashamed of her action. He simply just shrugged it off and continued listening to the speech. She started to doodle again.

**X-X-X-X-X**

In Geography class, they were learning about the features of the earth which again Athrun took a huge interest in. Cagalli got upset because Mr. Clyne didn't seem to like her too much. She decided to throw eraser bits at her other classmates. Most ignored her, but some got pissed and threw them back at her. She giggled in amusement, actually pretty loud that sent shivers down Athrun's spine and made everyone else stare at her. "Is something funny Miss Atha?" the teacher asked.

"No, it's just you have chalk dust on your black pants in the rear-area." she stated as the class turned their attention towards the teacher.

"What?? There isn't chalkdu-…" he paused as he looked back and noticed there actually was in fact, chalk dust. "I guess there is." the class let out some snickers before the teacher told them to settle down. Athrun for one, was still distracted and trying to figure out why a little giggle tingled his insides. He stared over at the blonde who continued to pick and pry at her eraser in amusement. His instant thought was '_how cute_' which surprised him and he shook his head in reaction to it. He was distracted the rest of the class by his thoughts.

**X-X-X-X-X**

During the transition to History class, Athrun walked down the hall trapped in his thoughts. Then a brunette rushed up to meet up with him. "Hey Athrun!" he called.

"Dah! Kira! You startled me!"

"Sorry about that. Anyway, what was up with you all freezing up during Geography?" Kira asked curiously.

"Uhh… well… you see… it's kinda hard to explain." he struggled to get out.

"Aww come on Athrun tell me! I'm your best friend right? I won't tell anyone." the brunette pleaded.

"Ugh… well I guess I can trust you. You know that blonde girl… the daughter of Uzumi Nara Atha?"

"So you're saying you like her?"

"WHAT!? I didn't say that! I was just asking you if you knew her!"

"Oh, right. Yeah, what about her?"

"Remember when she made that loud giggle in the middle of class?"

"Yep."

"Well, I had this weird feeling that sent shivers down my spine. I don't know what it was all about, but it seemed really strange. That hasn't ever happened to me before." the blue-haired boy explained.

"Oh I see." he said with a sure expression.

"What?" the other boy demanded.

"You _do_ like her."

"Huh?! How do you know? I mean, how would you know?! Where are you getting this assumption from?!" the boy asked nervously.

"Trust me. I just know. Same thing happened with me when I fell in love with Lacus. It's just something that happens when you have a crush on someone. Simple as that." the brunette explained.

"What?! Where's your evidence?" he started to yell in confusion. Kira simply ignored it and stepped into Ms. Badgiruel's class for history. Athrun followed.

"Alright class take your seats." the teacher commanded. "Today, we are going to learn about George Glenn and his achievements… in greater detail."

"Oh great George Glenn. I swear, Ms. Badgiruel mentions his name at least once a day for peat's sakes. Talk about obsessed." Cagalli said as she sat down.

"Excuse me Miss Atha, what was that?" she demanded.

"Oh nothing, I was just saying that George Glenn is a great person and he should always be mentioned every history class that's all." she lied.

"Good. That's what I thought you said." the teacher responded, then after carried on with her lesson. Meanwhile, Athrun was in a mental feud with the line '_You do like her'_ repeating nonstop in his mind. He still couldn't concentrate, his thoughts were focused too much on 'the blonde girl' and Kira's words. '_Was he right? Do I really like her? But I barely even know her, let alone her name…' _he continually asked himself. Then he looked over at the blonde and made a conclusion; _I want to know her name_.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After history, lunch period started. Cagalli sat in her usual spot, alone at a table in a darker corner with broken lights. The only place she really found safe from retards like Meer. That barbie hated dark places with mold growing on the ceiling and occasional spiders crawling by. Cagalli obviously didn't mind it. She pulled out a chicken sandwich and ate quietly.

"Aw, c'mon Athrun! Aren't you gonna eat with us?" Nicol pined.

"Uh, no, sorry Nicol, I have to go do something."

"Aww, okay." he responded in grief.

"Going to go see your girlfriend?" Yzak teased.

"What? Kira you didn't tell anyone did you?" Kira shook his head.

"You think we didn't notice the little 'incident' this morning when she was on top of you?" Dearka asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Huh? You've got it all wrong! She just ran into me and we both fell!" Athrun explained.

"Sure." Yzak said sarcastically.

"Fine, believe what you want. I'm going." and with that, he left to go sit with the blonde. As he started towards the table, he was blocked by a familiar obnoxious pink-haired girl.

"Hey, so whatcha doin' Athrun?" she asked obliviously.

"Uhh… well…"

"Wanna sit with me?"

"Well, actually,"

"Yes!! Good, good, let's go!"

"No, wait. I didn't say anything about sitting with you. I'm off to… go do my own business. Sorry."

"Oh that's okay!! Maybe another time when you aren't too busy kay??"

"Uh… sure."

"I'll be looking forward to it!!" and with that, she left.

Athrun continued his venture towards the single-person table and sat down being greeted with a "What the hell do you want?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to get to know you."

"Why's that? I don't know why a preppy guy like you would want to know some loser like me." she snapped back at him.

"You're not a loser. You aren't like that snobby pink-head over there." he said as he glared over at the direction of Meer.

"Oh, prostitute? Yeah, I hate her too. She's such a whiney bitch who complains nonstop."

"Well, I don't really hate her, she just kinda annoys me."

"You think??" she responded as she took a bite out of her sandwich. It was quiet for a moment.

"Anyway, what's your name? There wasn't enough time to get to that this morning, and I really wanted to know."

"…Cagalli. Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, just out of curiosity." he said. '_That's a really nice name.' _he thought.

"Right." she ended. After about a two minute moment of silence, Athrun asked:

"So, what kinda things do you like?" he asked obliviously.

"Nothing really. I've lost the things I used to love doing because I was shunned for it."

"Oh really? What were they?" he asked curiously. She stared at him for a moment.

"Well, I used to enjoy playing with barbie dolls, I used to play as Barbie, and I had Ken too. I used to always play little love stories. Prostitute saw me playing with them one day when we USED to be friends, and in Grade 9 when she became popular, she made fun of me for it." she said as a sad expression rolled across her face.

"Oh, I see. So you like romance?"

"I _used_ to." she corrected.

"I like romance, I've grown fond of it back in Grade 7. I prefer not to disclose that to people so just keep it between you and me okay?"

"Sure. Whatever. Same question to you, your interests?"

"Well, other than romance, I like making mechanical toys, reading books, and listening to music. I've always wanted to be a novel writer one day."

"Wow. You can make mechanical toys? That's pretty cool." she smiled in interest.

"I can make one for you if you want." he pleaded.

"Oh you don't have to do that for me. I probably don't deserve it being spoiled and all."

"Spoiled? Heh. You seem pretty nice for a spoiled girl."

"HAH! Don't even try to flatter me!" she said playfully.

"I'm not flattering you! I'm just being honest!"

"Sure. I'm not nice, I lack positive traits. Try again, Zala."

"Oh really? I think you're nice, beautiful, strong-willed, and have a good sense of humour." he complimented.

"Pfft. Yeah. Sure, if you say so."

"I'm not kidding. I'm serious about that. You have to believe me. Just because other people see you as a horrible person, doesn't mean me, or you have to. Next time you see yourself, take a better look. You'll see a totally different person. Trust me." he reassured her.

"Right. I'll do it and prove you wrong." she said stubbornly. Athrun just sighed and hoped she'd actually do it. He finished his lunch and decided to go take a short nap for a bit.

"Ah, well I'm off to go get some fresh air and rest for a bit."

"Where are you going to be?" she asked curiously.

"Just outside the school. Wanna come with me?"

"Uh, no thanks. I'll just sit around here for a bit."

"Alright." and with that, he left. He headed outside and felt the gentle breeze blow through his hair with the soft sunlight kissing his face. He headed towards his usual spot, atop a short hill under a great willow tree with branches that shagged over and shuffled in the breeze. He laid himself down behind the tree, with his back facing the school. He then rested his eyes, and soon after, fell asleep.

* * *

A/N: Ooo seems to be getting a little more interesting. Amusing what happens next chapter XP. But you won't find out until you read it. HOMGZ. Lol teh romance thing. Be quiet, I like cheesy things sometimes. And the Barbie thing... I had no other idea that seemed more insane than that XD. I have lots of fun toying with Athrun in my fics AND art. Especially my art. Muahahaha. R&R.

Kai


	3. Truth

**Chapter Three: Truth**

About five minutes later, a sneaky blonde snuck out from behind the wall and headed towards the direction Athrun went. There, she saw an old willow tree ahead. She made a sprint towards it, trying her best not to make too much noise. When she arrived, she walked behind the mighty plant, and saw a blue-haired boy fast asleep. She decided to kneel down and observe his features, now without the worry of having to be faulted from staring. He looked timid, his eyes peacefully closed, expression relaxed, with his silky-straight hair blowing in the gentle breeze. Then she started looking at his body, well-built, thin, and an overall, fair height. She was only a couple inches shorter than him, anyway. Then she observed his posture, arms slinking at his side, legs out stretched, and head slightly tilted to the left.

Cagalli decided to sit by him and share the moment of rest and relaxation. She curled up towards the tree, not too close to Athrun, and fell asleep. She constantly shifted her position, and ended up lying on Athrun's chest. She assumed she would wake up before he did, and would then move off of him. He probably wouldn't mind. He was comfortable anyway.

About twenty minutes later, two deep green orbs appeared on the boy's face. He was in a bit of a daze, but was wake enough to somewhat comprehend what was occurring at the moment. Athrun felt a warm pressure on his chest, so he looked down and saw a snug blonde sleeping quietly. His first reaction was a surprised fidget, but then started to really observe her carefully. He sat up slowly and gently enough to not wake her up, and she ended up on his lap. He then took a closer look at her, and observed her appearance, straight, shoulder-length blonde hair, curved outwards at the ends, with bangs that nearly covered her eyes. Her expression looked hurt, and her eyelids were snapped shut with a slight downward curve of her mouth making her look like she was feeling pain or something similar. She looked almost pale.

Suddenly, her arms swiftly swung around his waist as she cuddled even more into him. He blushed furiously at the action and twitched sharply. Then she awoke from his sudden movement and blinked her eyes tiredly. Still trying to figure out where she was and what was going on, she looked up into two deep oceans and a deep red stripe underneath them with a embarrassed expression. Then she realized.

"AGH!" she screamed and she scrambled off of him. "Uhh, I-I'm really sorry 'bout that! I didn't realize I uh-"

"It's okay," he said as he shook his head and cleared his throat "I mean it wasn't done intentionally, you probably just fell on me by accident."

"Uh, yeah. Just… that." she stuttered as she turned away with a cherry-red face remembering the position she was just in. They were quiet for a moment.

"So, do you want to go take a walk for a bit?" he asked as he looked down at the time. "Still twenty minutes left before classes."

"Sure." she responded.

**X-X-X-X-X**

The two began their walk along the outside of the school field, and continued down across part of the neighboring houses to the school. This brought up a question in Athrun's mind.

"Where do you live anyway?" he asked.

"Down Atha street. Kinda obvious. It's the biggest house in ORB!"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry it was such a stupid question."

"Doesn't matter. Where do you live?"

"On Auburn Drive. My house is pretty average. But easy to remember when you see the constant fangirls every other hour or so trying to hit on me." he said rolling his eyes.

"Hey, isn't that the place with that pond?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Yes it is."

"My father used to take me down there… when he _used_ to care."

"Cagalli, you'll have to come to understand, he does still care about you. He just can't find the time to be with you. I assure you, if he did, he'd be spending it with you."

"Sure he would. He cares more about his precious nation than his own daughter."

"I guess there's no convincing you…" Athrun sighed. As they made their way towards the school, Athrun had yet another question.

"Hey, do you want to do something after school? Like hang out or whatever?"

"Uh… well… I dunno, sure." she wasn't used to the term 'hang out' or 'do something after school' at all, "Where would we meet?" she asked.

"At the willow tree. Right after classes end. Meet me there."

"Okay." she said as they headed for the doors. As soon as they got in the school, they parted to get to their lockers and get their stuff for the next classes. The day rolled on just like the previous one, except the blonde didn't get in trouble, and Athrun didn't miss gym class this time. Both were thankful.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Finally, the school day came to an end and the bell rang, signifying departure from the school. Cagalli rushed to pack her bag and bolted out of the school as fast as she could, trying her best to try and avoid Meer. She darted out the door and had the constant thought of '_he's obviously not going to be there, this is totally pointless, he's not going to be there_' but she pressed on. When she finally reached her destination, she poked her head out to the back of the tree only to see the blue haired boy leaning against the tree. He recognized her presence, and started smiling and greeted her.

"Finally you made it! I was having the feeling you weren't going to come." he teased.

"Hey! When I say something, I keep my word!!" she said playfully as she was secretly thankful he kept his word too.

"Alright, ready for a good walk?"

"Again?"

"Tired already?"

"I was just kidding! Geez, you take things too seriously!" she said as she punched him playfully.

"Okay, then follow me." he pleaded as he grabbed her hand and took her across the field towards the main street, and from there, Auburn Drive. He walked down the street, and stopped at his house telling Cagalli to put her bag down in the garage with his as he lead her down to the pond. She observed the area, looking at all the sights and nature and comparing them to how it looked when she was little. It was basically unchanged, other than a few newborn trees, a few more frogs, and a murky smell from the pond.

"Wow, this place seems the same as it was years ago." she said with her eyes still touching every single feature in the area.

"Yep, still didn't change much since it was created, just got greener."

"So, is this why you took me here? To show me what I've seen years back and making it a reenactment of me and my father?" she asked rather ticked off.

"Oh, Of course not. I brought you here to show you something else. Come on." Athrun said as he grabbed her hand once again and lead her around the pond towards the entrance of some hidden path. "Has your father showed you this?" he asked.

"A path? To where?"

"Good." is all he said as he brought her through the twists and winds of the path, with the grass getting taller and more luscious as they walked deeper in. Small animals like squirrels, chipmunks, and birds were a common factor here. Even deer and foxes were spotted. Daisies, sunflowers, violets, bleeding hearts, tulips, and geraniums accompanied the tall, green grass. Athrun didn't ever turn back to look at Cagalli, nor did she say a word to him.

When they arrived to their destination, what lay in front of them was an elegant iron gate laced with vines and flowers. Spruce trees surrounded the area. It was impossible to see past them because the trees guarding the area were so tall. It was opened at the top of the enclosed area which allowed the sun to get in. "We're here."

"A bit of a long walk to get here. This better be good."

"Oh trust me. You'll like it." he assured her as he opened the gate to unleash a beautiful sight, roses; white, red, pink, and blue; literally everywhere. A rose garden. A huge rose garden. Cagalli walked past Athrun to examine the gorgeous surroundings.

"It's… beautiful. I had no idea a place like this ever existed." she said in amazement.

"I know, my mother takes care of this place. She used to take me here often when I was just a young child."

"I didn't think a boring, old, ugly, smelly pond could hide a beautiful rose garden as a secret." she commented as Athrun began to walk slowly towards her.

"You see, you shouldn't make assumptions about something or someone just because of their appearance. That's only maybe a percent of the story. Behind everyone's outer shell is always inner beauty. Everyone possesses that inner beauty. People are just so thick-minded, they don't allow themselves to see that beauty, but only see their outer shell. Then they shut that person out without getting to know them, or even talking to them." he explained. "This is why I wanted to get to know you. I wanted to see your inner beauty, and now that I have, I can say it's probably the most beautiful soul I've ever seen."

Tears started to well up in Cagalli's eyes. She looked down and put his words into deep thinking and finally figured it out. She sobbed as she found out she's been down-sizing her own self because of the constant insults thrown at her by her peers, and ignorance from her father. Athrun was right, she _was_ truly beautiful. She collapsed in his arms and bawled her eyes out. "May be if I wasn't so stupid I might've figured this out earlier!" she screamed between sobs. He simply hugged her closer and stroked her hair and back to calm her down.

"It's okay. It's not all your fault, and I'm here if you need me." he reassured as she stopped to look at him for a moment, then pushed her face into his shoulder to let out the rest of it.

* * *

A/N: Muahaha. The fun I have messing with these two XP. Yeah the rose garden and pond thing is pretty much just a copy of the pond on my street. But there is no rose garden there, I just made it up XD. So much detail, I confused myself with the damned wording describing the garden DX. Loved this chappie though. Next few are even FUNNER :D. R&R.

Kai


	4. Treatment

**Chapter 4: Treatment**

The blue-haired boy awoke in a daze, and half-mindedly got out of the bed, undressed himself, and jumped into the shower. As he rinsed off, he remembered the events of last night. Bringing Cagalli down to the rose garden and telling her the truth about how he felt about her. At least half of it. Then as he grabbed the shampoo and lathered it in his wet hair, he remembered what happened afterwards.

**-Flashback-**

"Are you alright now?" the jade-eyed boy asked. After a few finishing sobs, she responded:

"Yeah," she paused, "I'm good."

"Good, I was thinking you'd never stop. I was getting a little worried."

"That's silly!" Cagalli giggled wiping her eyes. Athrun just smiled back at her and led her to the bench behind them. They sat down and stared at the sky for a moment.

"It's already dark! Geez, I'm such a wuss, I didn't think I'd cry for that long." she said before it was silent for a moment. As a soft, cool breeze waved by, goose bumps started to appear on her exposed arms. She shivered a little. Athrun placed his coat on her shoulders.

"You must be cold."

"Aren't you cold too?"

"Nah, I'm used to this weather. I'm outside a lot." he said as he relaxed and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Oh. Well I'm usually inside a lot. My father doesn't think I should go out too much."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know. I think he gets too worried someone might kidnap me or something." she rolled her eyes.

"There you go."

"There you go what?"

"Your father does care about you. If he's worrying, then he really does care about you. I bet he worries about you all the time, he just can't get to you often."

"I guess so." she sighed. She looked up at the sky once again and saw the brilliance of the millions of stars glistening in the dark sky. She even saw a few satellites, and some space colonies. What fell upon her eyes next really startled her. "Hey, is that a shooting star?" she said is amazement. Athrun with his coordinator abilities, instantly looked up and saw it as well.

"Well, are you going to make a wish?" he asked smiling at her.

"A wish? Umm… I guess so." she replied as she closed her eyes and thought of something. Then she turned back to Athrun returning the smile and asked him, "Want to know what it is?".

"No, it'll spoil it. Just keep it a secret until it comes true."

"Okay." she said as she leaned her head against Athrun's shoulder.

"Getting sleepy?" he asked with a warm blush spreading across his face.

"Yep. My dad's probably pacing the porch wondering where the hell I am right now." she giggled.

"Right, well we better get back now."

"Okay." she said as they walked back the winding trail to Athrun's house, and from there, to the Atha mansion. He hugged her goodbye, then headed home.

**-End Flashback-**

"Cagalli…" Athrun muttered as he rinsed the soap bubbles off of him and got out of the shower. He grabbed the towel beside him, and dried his hair, then his face. He walked over towards the mirror and wiped the condensation off so he could see himself. Then he continued drying the rest of himself off, and sighed to relieve his trail of thoughts. "Why are you always on my mind?" he said to himself.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After throwing his clothes on and combing his hair, he walked out into the kitchen and greeted, "Good morning, Mother.".

"Good morning Athrun. How was your sleep?"

"Suitable enough I suppose."

"Good."

"So what's for breakfast?"

"Bacon and eggs."

"Ah, the usual." he said as he walked over and sat at the table with his mother and began to eat his breakfast. His mother stared at him for a few seconds, then asked:

"So where were you last night? Why did you come home so late?"

"Oh, just the rose garden."

"With who?"

"Uh… no one. I just went there." he bluffed.

"Don't lie to me Athrun, I saw the two bags in the garage, and I knew it wasn't Kira's."

"Uh… well…" he stuttered. Her finger tapping and glare was making him really nervous. "A friend."

"Don't give me that. Who?" she demanded. He was quiet for a moment, then decided to give in because he knew he couldn't escape her.

"A girl." he confessed.

"A girl?" she asked surprised and somewhat happy. "What's her name?"

"Uh.. Cagalli."

"Cagalli Yula Atha?"

"Yeah. How do you know about her?"

"She's ORB's leader's daughter for crying out loud!" she said in a 'that's so obvious' tone.

"Oh, yeah, right. I tend to forget that sometimes." he finished as they were quiet for a few minutes.

"So… what did you do with her last night?"

"We just… talked."

"About what?" she asked nosily.

"Nothing."

"Okay Athrun, I'm not going to say this to you again. Stop giving me crap. Tell me what you guys did."

"Do you really have to know?!" he asked angrily.

"Are you saying you… you know…" she paused.

"WHAT!?!?" he outbursted, "I would never do that!! That's sick! We only talked, okay!?"

"Alright, alright, I believe you. Just settle down. I was just a little curious."

"A little!? Kind of exaggerated don't you think?" he asked as his mother giggled.

"Okay Athrun, I'll stop. I see it's blowing your top a bit. Anyway, can I meet her sometime? I want to get to know her. What's she like?"

"Oh, well she's really interesting actually. She has to deal with a father who barely has time with her, and peers who don't like her at all. She appears tough on the outside, but she's really a nice girl who is compassionate with the ones she cares for." he explained.

"I see. So what's the story between you two?"

"Well, it's kind of an ironic story. I knew she existed all the time, but I never actually met her until a couple days ago. We started to talk a bit, and we spent a lunch period together, then I showed her the rose garden and… yeah."

"And yeah? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing."

"Athrun…"

"Alright. I'll tell you. First, she said that she didn't know that the ugly pond had a beautiful rose garden concealed in it, so I said it was just like her, and she started to cry for a while, and we stared at the evening sky for a while."

"…So does that mean you guys going out?"

"No! We're just friends."

"For now." she teased.

"What was that supposed to mean!?"

"Nothing." she giggled. Athrun just sighed and put his empty dish in the dishwasher, then walked into the living room, where he headed towards the door, put his running shoes on, slipped on his headphones, and called to his mother to signify he was leaving, and left to go on a walk.

He darted across the street towards the main road, and from there, walked down to Crimson Crescent to see if Kira was around. As he walked towards the street sign, he looked far past it to the next sign to see 'Atha Street' printed on it. Then he jerked his head away to try and keep her off his mind. He headed towards Kira's door and wrung the doorbell, then waited for a reply. The door swung open.

"Oh Athrun! Nice to see you again, but Kira's not here." Ms. Yamato greeted.

"Oh, where is he?"

"He's off to go visit his uncle for the weekend. Sorry."

"That's alright."

"Okay, goodbye Athrun."

"Later." he finished as he walked down the staircase and down the street towards Nicol's house. He turned his head to the right to see a large mansion, then shook his head again to refrain himself from thinking of her. When he made it to Nicol's house, he heard the same response.

"Nicol isn't around. Sorry!" Mr. Amarfi apologized.

"That's alright, later." he responded. When he got off his porch, he sighed and decided to walk around a bit. Yzak and Dearka went to go surfing today, and he wasn't too fond of either of them anyway. He walked down to the pond, then to the rose garden and sat there drowned in his thoughts. After about half an hour, it started to rain. He just sat there not noticing.

**X-X-X-X-X**

A very bored blonde sat at her window staring out at the town below her. She recognized Athrun's house and stared at it for a few moments. She re-remembered the events of the previous night. Then she sighed and put her head down. "I'm so bored." she muttered.

"Then why don't you go outside?" a familiar voice asked.

"Huh? Father?" she called as she turned around to face her dad. He just smiled at her. Cagalli raced over to hug him while he stood there surprised.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No…" she stared at him puzzled and blinked. "Why'd you think that?"

"Well, you don't normally hug me."

"Oh, well I felt like it now." she said as she smiled. He smiled back at her.

"Want to go on a little walk?"

"Yes!" she screamed in excitement.

"Let's go then." he concluded. They walked outside with the sun shining, the plants wet, and the soil moistened. A large and very clear rainbow ran across the sky, it's colours showing brilliantly.

"Oh, wow a rainbow!" she called.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" he remarked as his daughter nodded. He's noticed something different about her. '_Since when does this girl smile so much?_' he thought to himself. It didn't really matter to him that much, as long as she was happy.

"Father, I want to take you somewhere."

"Alright." he responded as Cagalli smiled and grabbed his hand, leading him towards Auburn Drive. "You're taking me to the pond aren't you?"

"Nope." she said. Her father was puzzled for the next few minutes.

"But that's where we're headed."

"Nope." she repeated. Finally they made it to the pond, but Cagalli kept walking. Her father raised an eyebrow.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"Someplace you'll like." she simply stated. She walked him through the winding path, towards the place she resided yesterday. "Here we are!"

"Hm? A gate?"

"Yep." she said as she happily opened it, only to reveal a wet, sleeping blue-haired boy surrounded by roses of all sorts. She was completely surprised. "Athrun!?" she yelled. He woke up immediately and blinked a few times before realizing who it was.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"C-Cagalli?" he said hazily. He was surprised as well.

"What are you doing here?" they both said in unison.

"Well, I…" they both said again.

"You go first." Cagalli insisted.

"Well, I took a walk for a bit after looking for my friends who aren't around, so I came here and I must've fallen asleep. What about you?"

"I was just taking a walk with my father." she said. Her father was staring at both of them in puzzlement with a thousand questions clouding his mind. Cagalli noticed his confused expression. "Oh, sorry about that. Father, this is Athrun, he's a boy who goes to my school. And Athrun, this is my father." she said as the two males stared at each other for a moment. Then Athrun remembered.

"My apologies Mr. Atha, I should've noticed." he said as he bowed down to him.

"No need for that. Nice to meet you." he laughed as held out his hand. Athrun looked up, then shook his hand. "You're a fine young man, Cagalli why didn't you tell me you were with a boy this well-mannered."

"WHAT!?" they both yelled.

"Hm? What did I say?"

"We aren't going out!!" they both yelled back.

"Oh, sorry. I was under the wrong impression. Please forgive me." he said as they both sighed and forgave him. Then he began to notice the garden. "Oh, what a lovely rose garden. I have never seen one this beautiful. I wonder who takes care of it. It's so healthy."

"That would be my mother, Sir."

"Well, she's done a really good job."

"Yes, she spends a lot of her time on it."

"It appears so." he said. It was quiet for a few moments. "So would you like me to leave you two alone. I'm pretty sure I've embarrassed you enough Cagalli."

"You don't have to. But sure." she responded.

"Ah, I'll be off then. Be sure to come home for dinner this time Cagalli." he called as he started towards the gate. When he left, Cagalli looked at Athrun for a moment.

"You look stressed, what's up?"

"Oh it's nothing."

"Don't give me that! Tell me. Something has to be bothering you!"

"Geez, you're as nosey as my mother!"

"Heh. Feminine touch I suppose." she giggled as Athrun turned away and stared off into the distance. "So how was your day?"

"More on the bad side. But okay I guess."

"Why's that?"

"My mother forced me to tell her what we were doing last night. I just can't escape her." he said.

"WHAT!?" she screamed as she pounced on him, "YOU BETTER HAVE NOT TOLD HER EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!" she yelled in his face.

"Don't worry! I only briefed it off so she had an idea!! I didn't tell her about what anyone said or anything like that! Spare me!" he said as he readied for a punch in the face. Cagalli stared at him for a second and thought it looked adorable. I mean a cool guy suddenly getting afraid of a girl! Instead of beating him to bits, she kissed him on the cheek. He opened his eyes and made a surprised expression on his face.

"Good boy," she said as she ruffled his hair and got off of him. He stared at her as if she were crazy, then let it go. She headed towards the gate and signaled him to follow. He did just that. They walked through the winding path, and headed out of the pond. She stopped and turned to him. "Oh, yeah I was gonna ask. Why are you wet?"

"Huh!?" he asked surprisingly, but it was more surprising that he didn't notice earlier, "Oh, while I was sleeping it must've rained and I was still in the rose garden." he said as Cagalli gave a confused stare but then looked off for a minute before asking:

"So what do you wanna do now?"

"I don't know… well actually, my mother really wanted to meet you."

"Okay." she said as she followed Athrun over to his house. He opened the door and let Cagalli walk in behind him, then shut it.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"I'm home!"

"Kay!!" could be heard from upstairs.

"Alright, I guess she's upstairs." he said as they both walked up the staircase into the recreation room. There, he saw him mother typing away the keyboard in front of her laptop. "Mother, this is Cagalli." he said as Cagalli stepped out from behind him. Mrs. Zala turned her head to examine the blonde. Then she stood up to go greet her.

"Hello, Cagalli. I'm Mrs. Zala, Athrun's mother. Nice to meet you." she greeted as Cagalli said:

"Nice to meet you too."

"I heard the whole story about how you two met from Athrun." she said as Athrun turned his head blushing and leaned against the doorway. "So I'm guessing you two are fairly close?"

"Sure, you can say that… I guess." she responded. Athrun's blush got even redder. Mrs. Zala grinned. She was enjoying this.

"Aww, my little Athy-Wathy's growing up to be a big boy now isn't he? Getting into deep relationships with girls now aren't you!" he teased as she grabbed his cheeks and started shaking them. Cagalli giggled.

"MOTHER STOP!" he yelled as he broke loose of her hold and rubbed his cheeks. He was completely embarrassed. First, his mother starts asking Cagalli weird relationship questions, then she starts embarrassing him with puppy-talk, now Cagalli's giggling! He _**has **_to leave the room. "Cagalli, let's go!" he said as he grabbed her hand and left. Mrs. Zala just laughed and said:

"Alright, you two have some _fun together_." Athrun didn't like the emphasis of 'fun together' at all.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After redressing, Athrun lead Cagalli down to the kitchen where he offered, "Would you like a drink or something?"

"No, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"Okay, then I'll drink something." he said as he got some soda out and poured it into a glass to drink. He grabbed the glass and started drinking it as all was heard was:

"Athy-Wathy…" and a giggle. Soda shot out of Athrun's nose in the opposite direction as he screamed in the pain of having soda come out the hard way.

"AUUGHHH!!" he yelled as a roar of laughter came out of Cagalli. "Shut up!" he demanded, "That really hurt!".

"Want me to kiss it better Athy-Wathy?" she teased as he grabbed a paper-towel to wipe up the mess. Then he finished his soda as Cagalli laughed even harder. She was on the ground laughing now with tears hanging off the sides of her eyes.

"Get up you silly girl! That wasn't funny!" he barked. She finally got up and they walked upstairs into Athrun's room. He shut the door behind him so his mother couldn't peep or annoy him in any way. Cagalli sat on his bed as he was rummaging through the closet in search of something.

"What are you looking for?" she asked curiously.

"Ah, here it is!" he said pleased as he pulled out a robotic toy. "This is for you." he said as he handed the toy to Cagalli. She took it out of his hands, then stared at it for a moment. She was trying to figure out what it was. Then, all of the sudden, a head, a tail, and four legs popped out.

"Huh? A turtle?" she asked as the red ad white robotic turtle looked up at her innocently.

"It's name is Rose. Named after the flower rose obviously. I spent last night making it. That's why I was asleep earlier." he explained.

"It's… so cute!" she squealed. She obviously liked it. "You didn't have to do this for me!"

"I know, but you were on my mind at the time." he said as he turned away blushing. She gave him a big, thanking hug for it. Then she started to play with it for a bit. Then, it's shell opened to reveal another present. A blood red pendant.

"Huh? What's this?" she said picking it up.

"Another… gift."

"Geez Athrun can you spoil me anymore!?"

"Well, actually…" he started.

"Don't say another word Zala." she warned as she put the necklace on.

"Looks good on you." he commented.

"Thanks." she said happily. Athrun just smiled as he walked towards the window to view the pond. Cagalli joined him soon after. "Nice view." she said.

"Not as nice as yours looks. I mean, you can see this entire section of the neighbourhood."

"So? It's not the best thing in the world you know. I'd rather look at things more beautiful than houses." she explained. "You'd understand if you spent your whole life staring at houses."

"I guess so." he concluded. It was quiet for a moment. Cagalli walked back over to his bed and fell back on it and relaxed. Athrun joined her, but instead sat on the bed. She was secretly staring at him as he just reviewed the features of his room. He didn't notice. She then sat up and stared at him, thus getting his attention.

"Hey Athrun,"

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?"

* * *

A/N: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA teh evil Kai left you hanging!! I just uploaded this in time before I missed Sunday thank god. It could've been uploaded on Monday which means I wouldn't have kept my word of uploading a chapter once a week! HOMGZ! Anyway, if any of you read this, you'll know I'm uploading a chapter every Sunday and I actually have chapters 1-8 and part of 9 ready. Okee, shut up Kai, you're revealing too much. Lolz next chapter is hilarious. SHUT UP KAI!


	5. The Secretive Approach

**Chapter Five: The Secretive Approach**

He looked at her for a moment before saying "Sure.". She looked away for a couple minutes and thought about what she was going to say before she could blurt it out. "What is it?" he asked impatiently. She ignored his words, and returned her gaze to Athrun.

"Well…"

"Well what?" he asked starting to get really curious.

"Well, uh… I… Nevermind." she ended.

"What? Tell me. You just started, why don't you finish?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I was thinking of something else." she bluffed.

"Oh." he said. '_Something else? What's that supposed to mean?'_ he wondered. After placing the turtle on the table beside her, Cagalli rolled around his bed for a bit and stared at the ceiling with her arms stretched above her. Athrun stared at her from the corner of his eye still wondering about what she was saying earlier. Then he looked over at the wall, full of medals, awards, and pictures. He then went through his life mentally and thought about everything that happened in the past few days, and then looked back over at the now sleeping blonde. "She fell asleep? Hm… she must've been tired." he said to himself. He then laid his head down on the lower side of the bed he was sitting on and fell asleep as well.

**X-X-X-X-X**

About an hour later, Cagalli awoke wondering where she was or what happened. Her memory started to come back to her as she spotted the blue-haired boy who was lying down nearly beside her. '_Didn't he start over on the corner?_' she thought to herself. Either way, she didn't mind too much. She then held herself up on her arms and leaned over to see the sleeping boy's face. Cagalli just loved seeing this, it was so cute and he was completely defenseless. She moved closer to him and was just barely touching him, but could feel his steady heartbeat. In the position she was in now, she could get closer to his face and have a better look. She was so close, their noses mere millimeters apart, and she could feel his warm breath against her lips. She felt a hot blush rush across her face and slighted her eyelids to only small slits as she pushed her face forward, thus clashing her lips against his. His eyes flipped open to the warm pressure on his lips and realized what was going on; him and Cagalli were kissing.

Athrun had a million emotions rush through him, pleasure, denial, lust, longing, and even _love_. He then figured it out. Now he knew why he couldn't keep her off his mind. Now he understood the weird feeling he got when she giggled. Now he understood his mother's teasing words. Now he believed Kira. He _loved_ her. After this realization, he deepened their kiss and turned over to put an arm around her. A shiver ran up Cagalli's back from the touch. After about ten seconds, they pulled away, both with faces plastered with the colour red. It was silent until Athrun spoke.

"Uh,… what was that all about?" he asked embarrassingly.

"I… uhm… fell…"

"You fell? How… do you manage to fall… and _kiss_ me?" he asked. He wished he hadn't said that.

"I don't know." she lied. He didn't want to bug her about it anymore, and decided to call it an accident without any other word. There was another awkward silence.

"Uh… what time is it anyway?" she asked.

"It's um…" he looked over at the clock, "3:30."

"Oh. I have to leave in a couple hours. That's about dinner time for me." she said.

"So what are we going to do in two hours?" he asked and hoped she wasn't going to mention anything about '_Ew get away you perv_'.

"I don't know. It looks like it started to rain again."

"Wanna go watch TV or something?"

"Sure." she said. And with that, they both went downstairs into the basement to go watch the television. Athrun impatiently and boredly flipped though the channels. He decided there was nothing to watch and introduce the movie option. She agreed, and he took her into a compartment in his basement full of movies. They picked a _romance_ movie. The Titanic. Both surprised it was still around in that day and age. Athrun took the disc and popped it into the DVD player to watch. They both sat on the couch to watch it.

**X-X-X-X-X**

At the end, what was left of them was a crying Cagalli hugging a pillow and a sad Athrun holding an empty bowl with popcorn scattered all over the floor. "Why did Jack have to die!? Oh my god, Rose was just calling and calling his name… Oh my god." she kept repeating as she cried.

"It's just a movie."

"But it could've happened!"

"True… but," he stopped as his mother came roaring down the stairs:

"ATHRUN!! DINNER TIME!!"

"Alright mother! Just give me a minute to clean the mess up and put the DVD away." he said as he began to do so, and Cagalli wiped her eyes and stopped her sobbing to help him. When they finished, they made their way upstairs to join Athrun's mother as she announced:

"Oh, Cagalli. You're staying here for the night. Your father just called to say he's having a busy night and won't be able to be there. He left some pajamas, a toothbrush, and clothes for tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." she said in conformity. Athrun just glanced at her. They both sat at the table to eat some pizza.

"We have pizza every Saturday so that's why we have it today. Anyway, tell me about yourself." Mrs. Zala directed towards Cagalli.

"Uh… well, I'm just an eleventh grader just like Athrun, I like romance, um… and dislike lots of other things."

"Oh, romance. Just like Athy-…"

"Shut up…" Athrun said as his eye twitched. His mother and Cagalli giggled.

"So what were you guys doing sleeping together earlier this afternoon?" Mrs. Zala asked as the two almost choked on their food in reaction.

"WHAT!? You saw us!?" they asked in embarrassment.

"Well, yeah. The door was open, and I wanted to go check on you guys." she said as the two blushed furiously. "Why did something happen?"

"No, no nothing happened!" the two said almost instantly. Mrs. Zala blinked in surprise.

"That was quick. So what did you guys really do?"

"Nothing really!" Athrun pleaded. Cagalli was so flustered, she decided to keep quiet.

"It's okay, you can tell me. I'm not going to broadcast it to everyone. I at least want to know what's going on in your lives so I can give you advice." she informed. Cagalli, now understanding Mrs. Zala's approach, decided to tell her.

"We kissed." she said. Athrun stared at her gawked.

"You did? Tell me the situation."

"Uh…" Cagalli stuttered but went over to whisper something into Mrs. Zala's ear.

"Oh. Okay. You can tell me after dinner." she said. As Athrun stared at the both of them dumbfounded. They glared back at him which nearly scared the piss out of him and made him stop. After they finished, Mrs. Zala stood up signaling Cagalli to join her.

"Athrun, you stay here. Me and Cagalli are going to have a girl talk." she said before leaving the room with Cagalli. Athrun just stared at the empty seats and put the dishes in the dishwasher, then sat on the couch to wait for them. With limited patience that is.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Meanwhile, the two females decided to talk for a little while in the recreation room, away from Athrun. "Okay, you can tell me now."

"Alright, well I woke up about an hour later, and I decided to go look over at Athrun. He looked really cute, defenseless and all, so I moved closer to him and, well after feeling his heartbeat and hot breath on my lips, I just kinda got into the moment and kissed him." she explained.

"Oh, I know that feeling. I remember I'd get impulses like that sometimes too back when I was a teen. But, I'll advise you to have those moments only sparingly so it doesn't feel so awkward when you're with him." she said before there was another silence. "So do you love Athrun?" she asked.

"Uh… well, kinda. I'm not too sure right now, but I'm leaning towards liking him. But I don't know if he likes me back." she said as Athrun began to walk up the stairs quietly to peep in on their conversation.

"Oh. I see. I'm not sure either, but I'll be sure to extract that from him later. Anyway, what do you like about him?" she asked.

'_What does she like about me? This should be interesting_' the boy thought.

"Well, first of all, the root of it all is that he showed me who I really was. Then I started to warm up to him after a while, and now… well… I'm just caught up in a bunch of mixed emotions. I like his personality, he's generous, kind, smart, and mature. He's also really cute." she said as a huge tumble occurred in the door area.

"Athrun what the hell are you doing over there!? How long were you there for??" his mother barked at him.

"Uh, well I got impatient and wondered what you guys could've been talking about if you were taking so long. I just got here when you asked her what she liked about me." he explained.

"Athrun…" she growled as she ran towards him and chased him back downstairs. "STAY DOWN THERE!!" she screamed. Athrun retreated to the basement where he wasn't in danger zone. Mrs. Zala returned upstairs to Cagalli in the rec room. She was blushing madly knowing that Athrun knew everything she liked about him.

"Sorry about that. He can get a little extra-curious sometimes. Don't take it personally that he now knows what you like about him. He probably feels complimented, he doesn't get credits for his personality often. Girls usually like him for how he looks." she explained.

"I know. He tells me about that often." she giggled. Mrs. Zala smiled. She was happy Cagalli trusted her, and she figured it was because she didn't have a mother and needed someone to talk to.

"Cagalli, you can call me mother. I know you don't have one, so I'm giving you the option. You don't have to, but I at least want you to see me that way. Would that be alright?"

"Sure." she finished.

"Alright, I'm gonna let you off here. Go downstairs and accompany Athrun for a bit. He's probably lost in his thoughts by now."

"Okay!" Cagalli said happily before walking downstairs. She briefly stopped and turned around.

"Mother," she said as Mrs. Zala returned her attention to Cagalli, "Thank you." Cagalli finished as Mrs. Zala nodded in approval. She continued her venture towards the basement.

* * *

A/N: XD XD "I... uhm... fell.". So original LOL. Yeah, this chapter got a little cheesy, but what can I say. I like cheese. Deal with it.

Kai


	6. Lesson

**Chapter Six: Lesson**

Downstairs, a light-headed boy lay on the couch boredly. Until he noticed Cagalli that is. "So, was what you said just an excuse to get past my mother?"

"What? No! I wouldn't do that. I wasn't lying about the things I said." she explained.

"Hm. So you really do think of that about me?" he asked as a smirk ran across his face. Cagalli blushed madly.

"Well… Don't get the wrong idea!!" she yelled before joining Athrun on the couch with her arms folded across her chest. Athrun's smirk got even wider as he sat up to put his arm around Cagalli.

"Is that just an excuse for the truth?" he asked as she turned her head and ignored him. "Is it?"

"Shut up!" she yelled before slapping Athrun across the face. "Geez, have some respect!" she yelled. Athrun just sat there staring at her with a surprised expression and his hand on the area she slapped. It was silent for a moment. "Oh sorry, did I hit you too hard? I didn't mean to. You just got on my nerves."

"Uhh, huh? What? Oh, no I'm fine." he stuttered. "Sorry, it's not like me to act like a jackass. I was just feeling a little cocky there." he apologized as he laid back on the couch. Cagalli leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"I forgive you." Cagalli said as she moved closer to him and kissed him on the cheek before returning to her spot on the couch. He felt around for the remote and finally found it. He turned on the TV and turned it to watch yet _another _romance show. It was in a war situation where two people on opposite sides meet coincidentally on an island. They had little crushes on each other during which, but still fought for what they believed in. '_How cute._' they both thought.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After watching that show, the two decided to make a sleeping arrangement for the night. They made it up to Athrun's room and argued.

"I think I'll sleep on the floor. You can sleep on my bed."

"No! It's your bed! You should sleep in it."

"But, you're the guest! I think you deserve the bed more than I do."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, I get to sleep in it every other night, so I don't think I'd have to sleep in it now!"

"So? It's still your bed!"

"Doesn't matter, you're sleeping on my bed and that's that."

"No!!"

"Then why don't we _both_ sleep on the bed in separate blankets? This way you'll be happy I got the bed, and I'll be happy _you_ got the bed. Compromise. Simple." Athrun explained.

"…Fine!" she finished as Athrun sighed thankfully. Cagalli grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom to get changed. Athrun simply undressed and put a t-shirt on and went into the closet to get another blanket out for himself. When he finally found one, he returned to the bed and Cagalli walked in the room in a sexy nightgown.

"…" he stared at her for a moment.

"What? Never seen pajamas before?"

"Uh… no! I mean, um, yeah. It's just… you look good in it."

"Pfft, don't make me laugh. It's totally revealing, I don't know why my father brang it here."

"I'm not kidding. It makes you look… uh… better." he stuttered as Cagalli gave him a death glare. "Uh, uh, I don't mean you don't look good without them, just… they… enhance your look." he said nervously.

"Whatever." she said as she made her way to the bed and lifted the covers. "Oh, and don't touch me while I'm sleeping. I usually whack people who do that. Unconsciously of course." she said before getting into the bed.

'_But what if you touch me?_' he thought. Then he smirked and left the room to brush his teeth. When he returned, Cagalli was lying down waiting for Athrun to come back, almost looking like a wife waiting for her spouse to get in bed to sleep. He walked towards the bed and got a strange remark before he got under the covers.

"Athrun, you look weird in shorts."

"What?"

"I mean, they just so aren't you. They look totally weird… I don't know why. Just… yeah. Weird."

"Um… okay." he said with a confused expression on his face and getting into bed. He pulled the covers over himself so his head only showed. He turned over.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Cagalli, could you please shut the lamp off."

"Sure." she said as she twisted the knob to turn the lamp off.

"Thanks." he said.

"Athrun,"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you love me?" she asked. The room felt silent.

"How did you know that? I mean, why do you think that?"

"A-ha. So you do love me."

"Damn. I didn't think you'd find out." he teased. She turned over to Athrun and moved closer to hug him from behind.

"Well, you know what?."

"What?"

"I'm going to tell you what my wish was."

"I told you not to spoil it."

"What are you talking about? It came true." she whispered into his ear that sent shivers up his spine. He turned over and hugged her back. They stared at each other for a moment. Her amber stones seemed to sink into his green oceans. They both moved their faces towards each other on an angle, which collided at the lips to form a kiss. They deepened it as their passions towards each other grew more intense at each moment. They pulled away and Athrun held her ever so much closer to him and they both cuddled. After about ten minutes, Cagalli fell asleep as Athrun whispered into her ear:

"I thought you said I couldn't touch you when you were asleep." as he kissed her on the forehead and fell asleep himself.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun was the first to wake the next morning, and got up to take a shower. When he got into the bathroom, he undressed, turned the fosset on, and walked in the shower to let the hot water run down his chest, then rinsed his hair. He grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squirted a bit of liquid out on his hands, then lathered it through his hair. Then he rinsed it out, and got the body wash out to wash the rest of his body. Afterwards, he grabbed the towel and dried himself, then tied it around his waist. He ran a comb through his hair, brushing his wet blue locks down straight, then made it back to his room to get some clothes. By this time, Cagalli woke up.

"So, you finally decided to wake up." he teased grinning. Cagalli just awkwardly rolled over and blinked, but didn't get up. She looked over at the nearly-bare Athrun who was going through his wardrobe to get out something to wear.

"Ugh, do I have to get out of the room for you to get dressed?" she groaned and stretched tiredly.

"Well, you _could_ just sit here and watch me undress and redress."

"Fuck that," she said as she put her face into the pillow, "Tell me when you're done." she said.

"Okay." he responded. He removed the towel and ruffled his clothes around to make it seem like he was getting dressed then called, "I'm done.". She turned around to look at him.

"AGHHHH YOU RETARD!! GET YOUR GOD DAMN CLOTHES ON AND DON'T SAY ANYTHING BEFORE YOU'RE DONE!!!" she screamed as she shoved her face back into the pillow as Athrun nearly pissed himself laughing. Mrs. Zala woke up and started towards the room from all the commotion.

"What's going on in here?"

"Athrun's strip-teasing in front of me that's what!"

"What!? I wasn't strip teasing!"

"Yeah, well you flashed your Mr. Happy for a second there! _Purposely_." Cagalli emphasized as his mother raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a death glare.

"Come on Cagalli, we don't need to see him nude, let's leave him to do that by himself." she said as she signaled Cagalli to follow her. They both left the room to head downstairs to the kitchen, where Mrs. Zala made some tea for them both to drink. "So, what exactly happened up there?"

"Well, Athrun got back in the room from a shower, I woke up, and he went and got some clothes to wear. So I put my face into a pillow and told him to tell me when he was done, and he told me he was done when he removed the towel from his waist."

"Dear, why didn't you just leave the room before he went to get dressed?"

"I didn't feel like getting up. I was tired."

"Ah, I see." she ended as she took a sip of her tea. Then Athrun came down the stairs, this time fully dressed, and joined them at the table.

"Cagalli, you can go take a shower now."

"…Okay…" she said as she glared at Athrun before finishing her tea and putting it in the sink, then headed upstairs.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Hm… what was that all about?"

"Athrun, we need to talk."

"Huh? What is it?"

"Well first of all, I'll need to clear up things from yesterday. You know she does like you right?"

"Uh, yeah. She knows I like her too."

"What!? Since when did this happen?"

"Last night."

"…"

"No! Not in that way! I mean, we confessed… in a strange way."

"Oh? How so?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Fine, I'll just ask Cagalli then." she finished as Athrun just looked away in disapproval. Mrs. Zala took a sip of her tea before starting the next subject.

"There's also something else I want to clear up with you."

"What?"

"Don't do anything to her without clothes on."

"I know. I wouldn't do that anyway…" he said as he looked down for a minute.

"Good." she said as she took another sip of tea. "And another thing, stop pestering Cagalli so much and try avoiding having a repeat session of this morning's incident."

"Oh, yeah, that. I was just being a jackass. I won't do it again."

"Good." she said as she finished her tea and put the cup in the sink to wash. Cagalli came back down dressed as well, and joined the table with Athrun as Mrs. Zala went upstairs to shower. They stared at each other for a moment.

"Do you have any eggs anywhere?"

"Uh, yeah. They're in the fridge." he said as he went in and grabbed the carton out for her. She took 3 eggs out, cracked them, and put them in a frying pan, also provided by Athrun. He took the bacon out too. Cagalli got started with the eggs and Athrun took some strips of bacon and laid them out on a plate, waiting for the eggs to be done so he could cook the bacon. Ten minutes later, Cagalli finished with the eggs, and Athrun started the bacon. Cagalli got 3 plates, 3 glasses, and utensils for the breakfast. She put an egg on each plate. After that, she walked over to Athrun and peered over his shoulder to see the bacon's cooking progress.

"That's enough Athrun, you're gonna burn the bacon!" she said as Athrun turned the stove off, then took the pan and put a couple strips of bacon on each plate. He walked over to the fridge and opened it.

"What do you want to drink? There's orange juice, milk, water,…"

"I think I'll just have some milk."

"Okay." he said as he pulled the milk and orange juice out. He poured the milk in her glass and the orange juice in his. They began to eat. Mrs. Zala came down and joined them.

"Oi, you guys already made breakfast."

"Yep." they both said. They continued to eat as Athrun and Cagalli kept staring at each other and Mrs. Zala seemed amused. Then she continued eating, watching them.

**X-X-X-X-X**

About an hour later, the doorbell rang. Athrun ran over to go answer it. "Why hello Athrun. Is Cagalli hiding around here?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes, she is." he said as the blonde walked out from behind him.

"Hey father. I'm guessing it's time to come home?" she asked.

"Well, you could stay here if you want. But I'm going over to the mall, if you'd like to come, you can."

"Hell yeah. Let's go." she said as she walked towards her father. Mrs. Zala came out of the kitchen to meet Mr. Atha.

"Why hello there, Sir."

"Hello, I'm here to take my daughter to the mall now, and you have my eternal gratitude for taking care of her." he said as he bowed his head down slightly.

"Oh, no problem. Anytime. The two seem to be very fond of each other, I don't mind at all if she decides to come back."

"Alright, thanks, we'll be off then." he said as the two turned around and started to leave.

"Wait," Athrun called as he grabbed Cagalli's arm.

"What?"

"Um…, well… would you like to walk to school with me tomorrow?"

"Sure. Where should we meet?"

"I'll pick you up."

"Alright," she said as she kissed him goodbye hugging the robotic turtle in her arms. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." he finished as he walked back into the house to do some chores for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, a frustrated blonde spent hours and hours looking for something good to buy and wear. She only wanted to look good for Athrun. Obviously, this wasn't her to be doing this, but she felt obligated to do so. Her father sighed as he sat waiting for her outside the change room. She walked out of the change room with her final decision of the clothes she wanted. She purchased the clothes, and looked for good shoes. '_This is going to be a long day…_' thought Mr. Atha.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for being late, I just kinda forgot to upload last night -sweatdrops-. Guess who I based the island romance on? Muahaha yes, Athrun and Cagalli in the actual series. I was all upset and confused last Friday when I watched episode 25 of SEED Destiny when Athrun, Kira and Cagalli were all argueing and stuff. I was pretty upset at what Athrun said. And then I spoil myself on Wikipedia and find out they don't end up together in the end TT. It doesn't make sense though because Athrun wears the ORB military uniform when he's in the PLANTs meaning he still lives in ORB... with Meyrin of course -.-". He hasn't spoken a word to Cagalli and was surprised when she wasn't wearing the ring. A LOT of open ends there. Expect a fanfic about it in the upcoming months. Hopefully they continue C.E. in the next gundam series so I can see if they get back together. I really dislike the way they ended Destiny. I'm going to sit here and wish it never happened. I mean, every character except for Athrun and Cagalli got their happy ending. Going to need a LOT of fanservice to cover that up XD. Anyway, if you read this far, congratulations, you've officially learned or reviewed some stuff about Athrun and Cagalli in the series. I will upload next chapter a day earlier than usual for my mistake yesterday. R&R.


	7. Broken Hope

**Chapter Seven: Broken Hope**

The next day, a blue haired boy eagerly jumped out of his bed, showered, and threw his uniform on. For the first time this year was he ever excited to go to school. He ate his breakfast, and went to go pack his bag and sit on the couch impatiently. He tapped his foot on the floor watching the time and getting very anxious.

"What's up with you? Why are you up so early?"

"I have to pick up Cagalli."

"Hell, Cagalli probably won't be up until like seven. It's six. School starts at eight. I don't know why you're in such a rush." she said yawning. Athrun stared at her for a moment before deciding it actually_ was_ too early, and laid himself down on the couch getting frustrated at himself for rushing, since now he had nothing to do for the next two hours. He groaned in boredom, then started to feel tired. He decided to grab a book to read for the next hour and a half. After which, he set out to go pick up Cagalli.

"Going, bye." he called as his mother waved him out. He started towards the Atha mansion, and as he made it there, he knocked on the door, only to see Mr. Atha welcoming him, and a rushing Cagalli, still in pajamas.

"Oh, she's up late once again." her father sighed. "Sorry for the inconvenience. She often gets up late."

"No, that's okay. I don't mind." he said as he looked upstairs and watched Cagalli sprint through the hallway into a different room. Then the second time she reappeared, she spotted Athrun.

"Oh, shit." she cussed before continuing to run, gathering all her stuff, and finally getting dressed, then dashed down the stairs to grab a piece of toast and a drink of milk, then headed out the door with Athrun.

"Wow… that took… five minutes." he said in awe.

"Usually does. That's how I get to school on time." she grinned as he just continued to stare at her in the how-the-hell-is-that-possible expression. She bumped his hand twice, signaling for him to hold hands, and he immediately did. They continued to walk to school, both quiet, and both very nervous about what everyone else's reaction will be to the two holding hands. Finally, they reached school ground, and were met by a group of familiar people.

The tan-skinned blonde wolf whistled, "Wow, Athrun. Never thought you'd get with a girl that hot. What a stud." he teased.

"Shut up Dearka. I don't need to hear I-"

"Yeah Athrun, where'd you pick up this broad?"

"Yzak!"

"Why hello, nice to meet you. I'm Nicol. Don't worry too much about those two. They're usually rude." he said as he held out his hand.

"I'm Cagalli. And another word out of those two retards and they'll both die." she threatened.

"Oh, wah, wah, I'm so scared." Dearka teased. Cagalli fumed and walked towards him, kicked him in the shin, punched him in the stomach, and kneed him in the face when he bent down in pain. Then she put him in a chokehold threatening to kill him if he said anything else. He immediately stopped. Yzak stared, frightened at the sight of her.

"Woah, that's one tough chick. I'm outta here!" he said as he ran away. Cagalli let go of Dearka, and he made a run for it too.

"Damn straight. Don't disrespect me you bastard." she said as she wiped her hands. "Well then Athrun, shall we make our way to the school?"

"Uh… sure." he said still baffled by her performance. As they continued walking towards the school, they were met by another annoyance.

"What!? Is this some sort of mistake? I'm the one who's supposed to hold Athrun's hand!! What the hell is a beast like you doing with him??" the walking PMS asked.

"I'm his girlfriend, got it?! If you can't accept that, then fuck off and go find another guy to obsess over."

"Impossible! I won't tolerate this!" the pink-haired girl screamed fuming. Then she walked towards the two and pulled them apart, then grabbed Athrun's arm.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" he asked angrily.

"You should love me more, I'm more beautiful, better, and human." she boasted. Cagalli gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in rage.

"But I don't love you!"

"Why not? I'm much better than that beast over there." she teased as Cagalli screamed as she pounced on Meer and started punching her face out. Meer screamed in fear and started freaking out at the spot, as Cagalli kept going, now starting to yank at her hair, and nearly punched her face in before Athrun grabbed her and pulled her off of Meer.

"You stupid, slutty, whore!! Don't you **dare** touch Athrun!!!" she warned. Meer stared at her in bewilderment and fear, and screamed:

"AHHHH, GET HER AWAY FROM ME!!" as she backed off and began to run away, beaten up with a bloodied nose. Athrun hugged Cagalli closer and calmed her down.

"Hey Cagalli, you didn't need to use violence." he said to her as she frowned.

"I know, but she blew my top. I just couldn't stand her flirting with you."

"It's okay. I wouldn't let her go too far." he said as he kissed her on the cheek. She kissed him on the lips and they savored the moment before the bell rang. Then they headed into the school before being confronted by the principal who called the two, and Meer into the office.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Miss Cagalli, what is the meaning of this?" Mr. Dullindal demanded.

"That stupid girl was flirting with my boyfriend and calling me a beast! What else was I supposed to do?"

"You could've taken the wiser verbal approach."

"Hell, that girl is too stupid to even reason with anyone. That was the only option I could take to teach her a lesson."

"Still, you didn't need to give her such severe injuries."

"Severe injuries my ass! She's acting more in pain than she actually is. I only gave her a black eye, fractured her nose, and tore some hair out."

"Oh really? I guess I'm going to have to ask some questions to the witness. Athrun?"

"Yes sir?"

"What exactly happened? And don't make any lies to me to be on her side. Otherwise, you're going to get in trouble too."

"Alright sir. Well, it all started when me and Cagalli were walking towards the school, and Meer came up and grabbed my arm. Then she began to act as if I was her boyfriend, and started to tease Cagalli a bit with a few insults…" he was cut off by a complaining voice.

"LIES!! All LIES!! I did NOT insult Cagalli!! He's making it up!!"

"Meer, let him finish. Don't interrupt again. Continue Athrun,"

"Anyway, Obviously Cagalli was enraged, so she tackled Meer to the ground, and began to punch her and yank her hair. That's when I decided it was going too far, so I pulled Cagalli off of Meer, and Meer ran away screaming." he explained.

"Ah, I see. But I don't understand why Cagalli beat her up so bad."

"She used to be my friend once. Until this year when she made a fool out of me by exposing my secret, which will remain unmentionable, but ever since then, she's been pestering me, annoying me, and bullying me, up until today where I let my bottled up pain and hatred out on her."

"You're lying!!!" the pink-haired girl screamed with a maniacal expression. "YOU'RE ALL LYING!! GO AWAY!! GO AWAY!!!" she screamed starting to freak out at the slowly revealing situation.

"Settle down. You're beginning to sound suspicious."

"YOU SETTLE DOWN YOU SMART FAGGOT!! FUCK YOU!!" she screamed as Mr. Dullindal pressed a button on his desk and two security guards walked in and held her back.

"I will now sentence Meer and Cagalli a suspension of one week. Meer for bullying a peer, and Cagalli for abusive physical behaviour towards a peer. This will be your last day at school until next Monday. Leave, now." he demanded as the three left.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Damn this sucks. I'm going to get in so much trouble for this."

"Don't worry Cagalli. It'll be alright. Just explain it to your father, I'm sure he'll understand."

"He doesn't have enough time to listen to me explain it. As soon as he finds out, I'll probably be grounded for a month."

"I wouldn't say so." he finished as Cagalli sighed.

They went to grab their books from their lockers and headed towards history class. They had yet another repeat lesson about George Glenn with Ms. Badgiruel. Again. More sighs were heard when the name 'George Glenn' was mentioned. Athrun peered over at Cagalli who had her head on her desk with a stressed expression on her face, not even listening to the lesson. Well, she doesn't do it much any other class anyway. He was getting a little worried this time though.

As lunch break rolled around, the two met up for lunch once again and this time went outside by the tree to eat their lunch. Athrun ate a piece of the leftover pizza from Saturday night, while Cagalli ate a taco. He looked at her for a moment and asked, "Cagalli, why are you so stressed about all this?"

"I'm not stressed."

"Yes you are, it's written all over your face." he said as she sighed.

"Alright," she began as she finished her taco, "I'll tell you." she admitted as Athrun paid closer attention to her. "Well, it's just, I thought if I got grounded, I wouldn't be able to see you for the week."

"Nonsense. I had nothing to do with the situation other than being a witness. I don't know why he wouldn't let you see me."

"What's the point of being grounded when I can be with the people I'm usually with?"

"Good point." Athrun stated as his brunette buddy approached them.

"Oh there you are, I thought I'd find you here." he said sighing in relief.

"Hey Kira. What's up?"

"Who's that? Isn't that the girl you liked?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah. She's my girlfriend now."

"Oh. Well, nice to meet you uh…"

"Cagalli." she said.

"Nice to meet you Cagalli. I'm Kira, Athrun's best friend." he said like it was his title.

"Nice to meet you too, Kira." she smiled.

"Anyway, what I was going to say earlier, there's a prom this Friday."

"Really!?" they both asked excitedly. Then they both remembered Cagalli was suspended that day too.

"No! Damn it! Why does it have to be _this_ Friday? Fuck!!" Cagalli complained.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked curiously.

"I'm suspended this week. For beating up Meer." she said.

"Oh. That's too bad. Maybe Athrun's going to have to find someone else to go with."

"No!!" they both yelled as Kira stared at them startled.

"Huh? What did I say?"

"I won't go if Cagalli can't."

"But you're the most popular guy in the school! If you don't go, then you'll lose your reputation."

"Fuck popularity. I'd rather be with the girl I love rather than be swarmed with hundreds of stupid schoolgirls. I don't care about my rep. I never did." he said as his discouraged friend began to realize what Athrun was saying.

"That's the old Athrun I used to know." Kira said as he smiled. "I'll leave you two alone to talk." he said as he walked off.

"Damn. Now I'm even more upset. First off, Meer starts flirting with my boyfriend. Next, I get suspended for a week. Now there's a prom on Friday which I'll miss when I finally have someone to go with. This really sucks." she complained. Athrun, also upset about the situation attempted to de-complicate the situation.

"Don't worry too much Cagalli. Meer as we all know is a pest, even to me, especially when she hits on me all the time. And the suspension, well that will obviously get you into trouble and it'll be pretty complicated to deal with, depending on what your father's decisions are. And with the prom problem, you could_ try_ to reason with Mr. Dullindal."

"Like that's going to happen."

Athrun sighed as he put the wrappers from his lunch back in his bag, and relaxed moving closer to Cagalli and putting his arm around her. "Don't worry too much, kay? It'll work out just fine trust me." he reassured as Cagalli looked at him for a moment then sighed and nuzzled into his neck trying to calm herself down.

"I'll try." she said as she moved off of Athrun a couple minutes later and rested her head on his shoulder. They lay there as the gentle breeze wafted across the field. Suddenly, a couple of angry feminine shouts were heard from a distance.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"ATHRUN!!" they screamed. He turned over to poke his face out from behind the tree to see two familiar redheads charging in his direction. His expression showed distress. "WE'RE GOING TO KILL YOU AND THE BEAST WITH THAT LIE YOU MADE TO TRY AND SAVE IT!!" they yelled as they made it to the tree fuming and Meyrin panting in exhaustion.

"What!? What lie? I didn't lie!" he said as he stood up along with Cagalli.

"Sure." the younger one said sarcastically.

"Meer told us all about it you snob. Nice try."

"But I'm serious! I didn't lie. I told the truth. Trust me."

"Like we can trust you." they both said.

"Heh, it's like talking to a rock with these two, they're too air headed to reason with you." Cagalli mumbled.

"I can see that." he mumbled back.

"What are you two chit-chattering about over there!? Another _lie_?" Luna asked.

"No-…" Athrun began as he was cut off by Cagalli.

"Okay, you two twits better get lost or you'll turn out like your pink-haired, bruise-faced friend."

"Big talk for a freak." Mey teased.

"Funny thing is, I can back it up." Cagalli said as she started cracking her knuckles. They ran away screaming.

"See Athrun? Smart talk doesn't work on stupid people like that. Threats do." she said as he scoffed and returned to his former sitting position along with Cagalli.

"I guess you're right. But I can't bring myself to hurt a girl. No way ever." he said.

"What are you a wimp or something!?"

"No, it's just… improper."

"Are you being sexist? I seriously think some girls need more of a punch or two than guys do." she said. Athrun sighed and gave up on trying to get her to understand what he was saying. Instead he punched her.

"Ow, what was that all about!?" she asked angrily.

"You said you thought girls needed more punches than guys do. So there you go." he teased.

"I said _some_ girls genius." she said as she punched him back.

"Ouch. You really do pack a punch don't you… literally." he said as he rubbed his now-bruised shoulder. Cagalli giggled.

**X-X-X-X-X**

As the day rolled on, Cagalli ended up continuing to stress, but tried her best to keep her mind off of it, and Athrun constantly worried about the matter as well. But at the end of the day, the two met up again to walk home together. As they continued down to Atha Street, Athrun told Cagalli to go inside and talk to her father, while he waited patiently outside for her to tell him the end result. After about three quarters of an hour later, she walked out with a sad and teary expression plastered on her face. '_Oh no…_' thought Athrun.

"Athrun, I…"

"Yes, Cagalli?" he asked hesitantly. She looked up at him, and more tears welled up in her eyes. She forced her eyes shut and the tears ran down her face. Then she looked down.

"I can't go."

"What!?"

"I said I can't go!!!" she screamed as she fell into Athrun's arms crying. "I'm grounded for a week!! I knew this was going to happen." she said between sobs.

"Aw, damn. I guess there's always… next… prom?" he asked as he realized what he just said. There's only one prom per year at ORB High. He just remembered, then feeling bad for it as Cagalli cried even harder. He hugged her closer. "I'm sorry things didn't work out too well this time." is all he said before he decided to shut up before he said something wrong.

"It's my fault. I beat her up. If I hadn't done that, it would've been just fine."

"No, it was Meer's fault. If she hadn't flirted with me and insulted you, you wouldn't have beat her up." he corrected her. Then she felt better having Athrun say it was her worst enemy's fault.

"No, it was your fault for being so damn hot. If you hadn't attracted her, it would've never come to all this, and we could still go to the prom together without worry." she said as she grinned a bit. Athrun kissed her on the forehead and whispered:

"Maybe you're right." and kissed her tears away. She looked up at Athrun and kissed him before saying goodbye. They parted, and Cagalli ran up to her room and bawled her eyes out. Athrun continued to walk home with a let down expression on his face, but shook it off and tried to forget about it.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, this chapter wasn't too great, but it does lead into some interesting things that happen in the next few chapters ;D. And as I promised, I updated a day earlier than usual, and I will continue uploading on Saturdays. In the writing process, I'm on chapter 10 at the moment. The reason I only upload one a week is so I don't spoil you guys and I keep up the suspence :D. Oh, and I don't write all the time due to school, life, etc. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter more than I did. 


	8. Reminisce of An Old Habit

**Chapter Eight: Reminisce of An Old Habit**

Cagalli continued to lie in her bed under the covers crying thinking about what she did wrong, and what she could've done to prevent it. She seemed to blame it all on herself but didn't realize it. After about a half an hour later of crying, she peeked under her bed to find the red and white object she treasured the most, found it, and pulled it out. "Hello!." it said to her as it came out of it's shell. More tears welled up in her eyes and she continued her melancholy rampage while hugging the robotic turtle. After a while longer, a knock was heard at the door.

"Cagalli, open up. I want to speak to you." her father called.

"FUCK YOU!!" she screamed as more tears ran down her face.

"Cagalli!!"

"I don't want to talk to you ever again!!"

"But Cagalli,"

"Get lost!!" she screamed now sobbing even heavier. It was silent for about five minutes.

"Cagalli, I want to talk to you about the prom."

"Why the hell would you want to know anything about that!?"

"Well, Athrun came by, and explained to me everything, and I rethought about grounding you." he explained as there was a silence and a clicking sound signaling she unlocked the door. Mr. Atha walked in a few seconds later only to see a sad blonde holding a robotic turtle looking out the window. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, then sat beside her on the bed. Cagalli sniffled. "Well, I was thinking of letting you go to the prom. But I'm not sure about what your principal will think."

"He will probably refuse. I did beat up Meer after all."

"But you had a reason."

"Still, if I was able to go, she'd have to be there too. Equal rights am I correct?"

"True. But you'd just have to avoid her for the most part. And if she ever did come up to you, just ignore her. It's way easier and better that way. And I know you really wanted to go to the prom with Athrun. So I'm giving you the opportunity."

"Okay." she responded as she put her turtle down and hugged her father. "Thank you."

"Anything to make you happy." he smiled.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Meanwhile, Athrun sighed as he rested his body on his bed, anxious as to what was going to happen between Cagalli and her father, and the prom, of course. He stared at the ceiling for about thirty seconds before the phone rang. He rolled over and picked up the phone from the side of his bed.

"Hello?"

"Athrun, it's me, Cagalli."

"Oh, hey. What's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm able to go to the prom."

"That's great!"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm still a little worried about if Mr. Dullindal well allow me to go to the prom."

"Oh, right."

"I was wondering… maybe… since I can't do it, can you reason with him? I mean, I was amazed at how you persuaded my father."

"Uh, sure. I mean of course! I'll be sure to ask his permission tomorrow."

"Thanks, Athrun."

"No problem."

"Well, I have to get off the phone before my father finds out. Love you, bye."

"Love you too." he said before turning off the phone. Then he thought '_How in the hell did she get my number?_' before he decided he didn't care, and was thankful she actually did call. He returned to his previous position, then grabbed a book and read.

About an hour later, Kira dropped by to hang out with Athrun. They both went over to the school to hang out for a while. During this time, they discussed quite a few pointy topics.

"Hey Athrun,"

"Yes?"

"How's your girlfriend?"

"Huh? Oh, well she's fine."

"She's suspended huh? I guess you two can't go to the prom together."

"Well, actually, I've talked to her father about it, and he's fine with letting her off grounding. But, I have to talk to Mr. Dullindal about letting her go to the prom."

"You do know that means allowing Meer to go as well right?"

"Yeah, I know. But we're just going to have to learn to tolerate and ignore her for the time being."

"Ah, I see." the brunette said as he grabbed a familiar robotic bird out of his pocket and let it fly around.

"You still have that thing?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"I thought you would've thrown it away or something." he said as Kira scoffed.

"Hey, I just remembered, I'm having a huge party on Saturday, wanna come?"

"Uh, well, sure. I guess."

"You can bring your girlfriend along with you too if she wants to come."

"Okay, I'll confirm with her about that tomorrow. And her name is Cagalli."

"Oh, right, I forgot." Kira said as Birdee came back and he caught it. It chirped and titled its head, then glided to his shoulder where it readjusted itself to face forwards. After a long silence, the sun rolled behind the trees at the end of the field and became a sunset.

"Well, it's getting late. My mother won't stop nagging me about where I went if I don't get home soon. So I'll see you tomorrow."

**X-X-X-X-X**

"Sure, bye." Kira responded as they parted in different directions.

When Athrun arrived home, he ate dinner with his mother, who again, asked him a million questions about where he was, who he was with, why he went, and so forth. This time though, Athrun told his mother things he wouldn't normally say.

"Uh, Mother?"

"Yes, Athrun?"

"I want to tell you something. I need your opinion on this, or I might screw up and leave Cagalli in a mess and having an eternal hatred of me forever."

"What is it?"

"Well, earlier today, this girl started flirting with me when she saw me and Cagalli together going towards the school, then began to tease Cagalli, so she blew up on her, and now they're both suspended for the rest of the week."

"Oh? And how is this affecting you?"

"Well, the thing is, the prom is this Friday. Cagalli was stressing today because she really wanted to go, but she was grounded this week, and she's unsure Mr. Dullindal was going to let her go. I talked to her father about it, and he understood and said he'd let her go only to the prom on Friday, so I'm going to try and convince Mr. Dullindal tomorrow."

"I see," she said, "You're pretty darn serious about a silly little school dance."

"It's not like that! I'm doing this all for her, because I don't really care if I go or not, it's Cagalli that wants to go. And I will try my best to keep her spirits alive so she's happy."

"Good boy." Mrs. Zala said as she ruffled his hair and took their empty plates and put them in the dishwasher. Athrun sat there with his mouth opened and with a confused expression on his face. His mother turned to look at him then giggled. "At least you try Athrun. Even if it doesn't work out, she'll still love you for what you did, even if it doesn't turn out to be what was desired. So don't worry too much about it." she said before leaving the room.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun returned to his room, got into his undergarments, and slid under the covers of his bed. He turned left to face where he remembered Cagalli was resting that Saturday night. He lay his hand on the pillow she was lying on that night, so close to him, sleeping soundly. He imagined she was still there. Then, he wondered what she was thinking about that night. '_Maybe she's asleep at this hour. If so, what is she dreaming about?_'. Then he started to worry. '_What if what my mother said was wrong? What if she didn't like me if we weren't able to go to the dance?'_ and this trail of thoughts continued to run into his mind, until he fell into a deep and horrid sleep.

**-Athrun's Nightmare-**

The blue-haired boy was resting against the willow tree in the field with a girl clung to his arm, and lying on his shoulder. She kept cuddling up to him, getting closer and closer each time. He looked down to look at her, but it turned out to be someone very surprising.

"Meer, what are you doing with me here!? Where's Cagalli?"

"What are you talking about? She killed herself a long time ago when you said she couldn't go to the dance. You ended up going with me because I snuck in and convinced you to dance with me."

"What!? No!! Cagalli-"

"Are you saying you don't love me?" she said as her face started to disintegrate and turn zombie-like. Athrun began to freak out and pushed her away from him, running away and into a graveyard where he tripped on a rock and fell upon a tombstone reading "Cagalli Yula Atha, C.E. 55-71". He trembled at the sight of it, then he felt something pushing up from the ground. He rolled over, and a rotting corpse of his girlfriend crawled out.

"Athrun, you fell in love with that bitch and betrayed me" it shrieked as it lunged at Athrun and started to tear him limb from limb, then grabbed his head and began to twist it forcefully. It cracked and blood squirted out, before it made a final snap.

**-End Nightmare-**

Athrun woke up with an abrupt yelp and panted like he just finished a marathon and sweat dripping from the sides of his temples. "Oh thank god, it was just a dream." he said to himself. "I've watched too many horror movies." he panted as he lay himself back down and tried to calm himself before returning to dreamland. He succeeded, and this time, was in a better situation this time. This time there was no zombie Meer or zombie Cagalli, but instead, him and Cagalli were together watching the sunset on the beautiful seashores or ORB.

* * *

A/N: This chappie might've been a little boring, but it does lead into the other chapters quite well :D. COUGHESPECIALLYCHAPTERTENCOUGH. Ehem. Oh, and when I finally get to upload chapter 11, the uplaoding process may start to move a little slower because of schoolwork and stuff. DX Death to school! Bores the crap outta me! I have better things to do like write my fanfic :D. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chappie.

Kai


	9. Attempt

**Chapter Nine: Attempt**

Athrun woke up the next morning in a daze, then frowned at the thought of him having to go speak with Mr. Dullindal today. "Damn it," he cussed before getting up and going over to the bathroom to shower. Afterwards, he threw on his uniform and went downstairs before spotting Cagalli wearing a nightgown sitting at the kitchen table with his mother. He stood there confused.

"Good morning, Athrun."

"I thought you were grounded."

"I said _good morning_." she repeated. Athrun sighed.

"Good morning." he said half-wittedly.

"Thank you. Now, I'm only here to spend some time with your mother. I mean, my father doesn't mind because I'm conferring with your mother and not a friend."

"Well, why are you here this early?" he asked. Cagalli shrugged.

"I don't think that really matters. Now eat your breakfast and get the hell out of my sight!" Mrs. Zala said pointing at the clock.

"Shit!" he cursed before gobbling down his breakfast and making a split.

"Goodbye, Athrun." they both said as soon as he left the door.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun ran towards the school and headed towards it before being confronted by his friends. He was welcomed by yet another cloud of sarcasm and lame jokes.

"Oh, I see you aren't with your girlfriend this time. Aww, don't tell me she dumped you." Dearka teased.

"She probably found out how small he was last night." Yzak started.

"Look guys, I don't have any time for fooling around, I really have to speak to Mr. D before it's too late." he warned as the two troublesome boys started towards him trying to annoy him again.

"What? Telling on that little whore she broke up with you?" Dearka started. Athrun stopped and turned around with a death glare. They stepped back remembering that glare, and what happened the last time he made that glare.

**-Flashback-**

It was during the first prom in Grade 9 when Yzak and Dearka decided to pull a horrible practical prank on Athrun. Athrun, obviously became prom king, along with Lacus Clyne, both stood on the stage being crowned, before his pants fell down. The two boys laughed until their faces went red and tears were streamed down their faces. Athrun, after blushing madly at his former girlfriend giggling at him and rushingly pulling his pants back on, stared the two down before they nearly pissed themselves. He walked over to them and nearly beat them to death if it wasn't for Kira who pulled the three apart.

Earlier that day after the bell rang, Athrun was at a total lack of belts, so he asked his friends if they had any.

"Hey guys, I need a belt for the prom tonight. Have any?" he asked before a sinister idea crossed Yzak's self-centered mind.

"Actually, yes. I have one you could borrow. Just come by my house tonight and I'll lend you it." he said nicely.

"Thanks Yzak!" the blue-haired boy said in thankfulness. Yzak began to walk off, with Dearka following with a confused expression on his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? He's obviously going to own us at the title of prom king!"

"Why don't you just shut up and listen!! Look, I'm going to program a type of belt to be able to break open at the click of a button. So as soon as he walks up to get crowned, I'll press the button and his pants will fall and it'll totally ruin his reputation! It's perfect!" Yzak said grinning.

"Huh!? That's totally awesome! Knew you could prank him, buddy!" he said as they ran back towards Yzak's house and constructed it. Then Athrun came over to claim the belt.

"Hey Yzak, got the belt?"

"Why yes I do." he said as he handed the belt to Athrun.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Just make sure you fasten it right or it may fall off and I don't think you want that to happen." Yzak said as him and Dearka began to laugh a bit.

**-End Flashback-**

"She is **not** a whore." he growled as the two backed off and left him alone for him to continue his venture.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Meanwhile, Cagalli was talking to Mrs. Zala for the remainder of the morning. The subject they discussed was clearly obvious, being both Athrun and the prom and its complications.

"Oh, I'm so worried. I wonder if Athrun will end up convincing him." she said as she put her head down no the table.

"I'm pretty sure. I mean he has the potential and confidence. He's really serious about this. More serious than you'd ever know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he even told me yesterday, he wasn't doing this for the sake of having someone to dance with at the prom, but it was all for you to make you happy. Those are his _only_ intentions." she explained as Cagalli widened her eyes a bit before smiling lightly.

Athrun entered the school and started towards the direction of the principal's office. He had nothing to hold back, and stood to pursue his goal, and try his best to get Mr. Dullindal's decision to change. He stood in front of the door, took a deep breath, then knocked.

"Come in." he called. Athrun walked in.

"Uh, good morning, sir." the blue-haired boy said bowing to him.

"Good morning to you boy, pleasure to see you. What is it you come to discuss with me about?"

"Well, actually, I'd like to ask you if you could do me one favor."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to request if you could allow Cagalli to attend the prom this Friday." the raven-haired man raised an eyebrow.

"And why would you want me to do this?"

"Well, she's been stressing a lot about the suspension, and she nearly lost all hope when she heard about the prom. I'm asking you this mainly for her to be happy, secondly, to actually have someone that means something to me to have just one dance." he explained.

"Ah, I see. But you do know I can't let this go free. That totally demeans the purpose of a suspension if I let this happen without consequence." he stated as Athrun gulped and knew what he had to face for him to allow this.

"I know, but what if he actually does fail?"

"Don't stress too much about it. I'm sure he'll do anything, even if it costs his own life, to get you to the prom or at least be happy." she said as tears started to well up in Cagalli's eyes.

'_I didn't think I was _that_ important to him._' she thought before putting her head down again.

"I understand," he started, "I'll take the consequence. Throw anything at me and I'll accept. Anything." he said with encouragement. Mr. Dullindal grinned.

"You're pretty serious about this aren't you?" he remarked as Athrun nodded. "Well, your punishment is to spend extra hours at the school to help organize the cabinet." he said as he pointed to the extremely messy and unorganized cabinet behind him.

"Thank you. You have my eternal gratitude." Athrun said as he bowed to him once again, then left. Mr. Dullindal chuckled to himself remembering his young adulthood, then returned to his work.

**X-X-X-X-X**

The bell wrung the moment Athrun stepped out of the office, so he walked over to his locker and got his books out, only to come face to face with Kira. He yelped startled.

"Kira, what the hell were you doing there?"

"So how did it go?" the brunette asked anxiously, totally ignoring Athrun's previous statement.

"Uh, well he decided to let Cagalli go only on the condition that I clean out his cabinets after school."

"What!? No way! Something that simple?"

"Well, yeah." he responded as Kira shook his head in disbelief.

"Looks like he's grown soft. Last time I tried asking him something, he made me clean out the washrooms, and wash EVERY chalkboard in the school, then help the kids at the Glenn Middle School with their work!" he screamed back at him as Athrun chuckled.

"That was _one_ extremely hilarious day. At least we helped you." he responded.

"Yeah, _at the very end _after laughing at me for the first few jobs" Kira remarked. Athrun was silent for a moment.

"Well, looks like we should get to class before we're late! Come on, let's go." he said trying to change the subject.

'_Douche._' Kira thought.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After the first three periods, Athrun decided to go eat his lunch in the cafeteria with Rey, Shinn, and Heine, still trying to refrain from killing Yzak and Dearka after their negative comment earlier that day.

"Hey guys, mind if I sit with you?"

"Oh, that's not a problem Athrun, pleasure to be in your presence." Heine said joyfully.

"I seriously think he worships Athrun…" Shinn whispered to Rey as he shrugged.

"What are you two boys talking about over there?" the orange hair boy demanded.

"NOTHING!!" they both yelped.

"Then why don't you welcome Athrun? Are you two really that rude?" he said as the two sighed.

"Hi Athrun." they both said half-wittedly.

"Hey." he said as he sat at the table. They all started eating their food, and suddenly a familiar melody played.

'_Life goes on (goes on, goes on)…_' was heard as Athrun reached into his pocket and grabbed his cell out to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey my little Athrun-poo! I just got a call from the principal saying I could go to the dance!!" the girl squealed.

"What!? Who is this?"

"It's me silly!"

"Meer?"

"Duh!"

"How'd you get my number!?"

"I have my sources. Anyway, want to go to the dance with me?"

"Uh…" he started then paused for a while. '_Shit, what am I going to say? If I tell her I'm going with Cagalli, then she'll probably get pissed off at me and… I don't want to know! But if I say yes, Cagalli will be let down. Damn it!!_' he thought.

"Well?"

"Uh, well to tell you the truth, I can't go to the dance."

"Aww, why not?"

"I'm… uh… going to go visit my father. Yeah, that! That's why I can't go."

"Aww, okay, well I guess I'll see you next week my little Cute-Wutie-Fuzzy-Wu-"

"BYE!" he said before hanging up. He slumped in his chair and looked rather stressed.

"Who was that?" Shinn asked curiously.

"Meer. She asked to go to the dance with me."

"And what did you say to her?" the blonde asked.

"I said I wasn't going."

"You lied!? Oh, this is going to get you into _so_ much shit." Shinn warned.

"I know, that's the bad part. If she actually does see me at the dance, she'll probably bother Cagalli for the rest of her life. I seriously screwed this thing over." Athrun sighed.

"No worries Athrun, we'll try our best to keep her distracted." Heine claimed.

"_We'll_!?!?" Shinn asked with an angry impulse.

"Yes Shinn, _we_ will. Athrun's our friend, and he's suffered enough trying to get to where he is. Just spare him some help alright?" he explained as Shinn crossed his arms and had a stubborn expression on his face.

"Fine…" he muttered. Rey simply sighed. Then, the purple-eyed boy with the robotic bird walked over.

"Hey guys, what's happening?"

"Nothing." Shinn muttered.

"Oh, we just finished talking about our plan for the prom." Heine explained. Shinn gave him a glare before turning away again.

"There's a plan?" Kira asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, apparently we're supposed to keep Meer busy or something." Rey added.

"Ah, I see. Sadly, I won't be helping because I have someone to attend to at the dance." he said looking in the pink-haired girl's direction. She turned and smiled at him and he did the same.

The blue haired boy turned his attention to the evil minions of the dreaded pink-haired imposter who were heading towards the table. When they arrived, they put smiles on and seemed to broadcast their questions to the blonde and the black haired boys.

"Oh, Rey would you like to go to the dance with me!?" the pigtailed redhead asked almost overly happy.

"Uh… well,…."

"How about you Shinn?" Luna asked as she winked flirtingly. He blushed in return seeing as he _did_ have a bit of a crush on her.

"Umm… uhh…" they both paused.

"Then it's settled!" they both said giving each other a high-five, then quickly suspiciously stared at Athrun before leaving.

"But, we didn't…!" Rey and Shinn said in unison.

"See you at the dance!" they both called before running off. The two guys sighed.

"What was that glare all about?" asked Athrun surprised. Kira and Heine shrugged as the other two still sat there in confusion. Athrun slumped back into his chair once again and laid his head back on the wall behind him and thought to himself '_Damn, this is going to one crazy mix-up_' before the bell rang.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun made his way to math class along with his other friends and sat in his desk. The room was unsupervised. '_The teacher must be late._' he thought. He gazed at the other students around the room, goofing around, chatting, laughing, throwing stuff, and girls gossiping, like usual. All fell silent when the door opened, and Mr. Dullindal walked in.

"Sorry class, but Mr. Creuset has fallen ill and is currently at the hospital suffering from anti-depressant overdose. He should return in about two weeks, after getting his stomach pumped and recovery." he started as the class snickered and whispered jokes to each other, "but for this emergency, I'll have to cover for him now." he finished. He began teaching the lesson for the day, and Athrun barely paid attention, still with his mind cluttered with millions of thoughts of the dance and how it's going to go.

"Athrun," the principal summoned as the boy's eyes widened as he was startled.

"Yessir?"

"Answer the question."

"Uh, could you repeat it please?"

"I'm afraid not." he said as he grinned. Athrun sat there confused and starting to feel the embarrassment as the class began to giggle. The principal walked through the rows of desks to come upon Athrun's desk, then leaned over it and spoke to him.

"Boy, if you really want that privilege I gave you this morning, then you better not start acting up now, or I shall take that opportunity away."

"Sorry, sir. I won't do it again."

"Wise not to. Any more trips to dreamland, and I'll cancel our little deal." he said as he stood back up and returned to the front of the class and asked someone else to answer the question. Athrun tried paying better attention this time, and tried his best to keep his thoughts off of the prom for now.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Back at the Zala residence, after a long chat about topics like the prom, Athrun, his childhood, the retards at school, and other things, Cagalli headed up to Athrun's room to do a little bit of investigation. Meaning being a freakish obsessed girlfriend and going through Athrun's stuff. Well not really, it was just out of curiosity and boredom.

As soon as she got into his room, she immediately opened the closet and flinched thinking things would come falling out of it, but nothing did. Athrun's an organized person right? At least that's what she thought. The closet was a small one, she figured he wouldn't really need a big one because he himself didn't need too many clothes. She saw wardrobe, a few bed sheets in bags on the closet floor, and some strange boxes up top on the upper shelf.

She grabbed one of the peculiar boxes and opened it, only to reveal some scrap metal, memory chips, wires, and other electronic parts. A slight smile slid across her face when she remembered the gift Athrun gave her. "He must have used these parts to make Rose." she said to herself. She put the top back on the box and returned it to the closet.

The blonde sat on the bed and looked around his room, before seeing a small chest of drawers beside the bed with the lamp overtop. She slid across the bed to get close to it, and opened the top drawer. Inside were pencils, erasers, pens, and other writing utensils. It was all organized too. She closed that drawer, and went down to the second one to reveal some plain paper as well as lined, both neatly set in two piles. Again, probably for sketches of robotic things, and writing. She went to the last drawer and gasped in shock. She picked the piece of paper up and stared at it in amazement. "Athrun… he…" she said before Mrs. Zala walked into the room.

"Hey Cagalli, I'm making some tea, would you like some?" she asked. Cagalli looked over still with a surprised expression on her face, but shook it off.

"Uh, sure." she responded as Mrs. Zala left the room and made her way downstairs. Cagalli put the picture in the closet, and left to join Mrs. Zala.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Back at the school, the bell rang, and Athrun immediately headed straight for the office, and began working through the files, and putting them in order. He started with the mess at the top drawer in the cabinet, and filed the students records in alphabetic order, as they should be. It took about three hours to get them all in order, since there were about two hundred files to go through. This was only letters A-I too.

He stopped when he found Cagalli's student record. "_Atha, Cagalli Yula"_ it read on the cover. He opened it, and saw about a dozen suspensions, twenty three reports of assault, both verbal and physical, and thirteen near suspension incidents. How is she still in the school? Her father. That's why. Otherwise, she would've been expelled long ago.

Athrun also looked at Meer's record. "_Campbell, Meer"_ it read. He looked through it, and found many reports of assault, all on Lacus Clyne. He even remembered them happening when he used to date Lacus. Mostly physical assault, but on the flip side, Cagalli was mostly verbal surprisingly. He even read about the third recent suspension when she swore at the principal. He shook his head, filed the record, then frowned. He finished the rest of the files without stopping. He decided to do the other two drawers the next three days.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After he finished, he left the office to pack his bag, and leave. As he was walking towards the door, he was pushed against the wall by Shinn who had a pissed off expression on his face.

"Athrun!"

"Uh Shinn, what is it?"

"Okay, I know you have your girlfriend, and you mixed yourself up in crap. But do you ever really think of everyone else!? We have lives too you know!!"

"What are you talking about??"

"THAT MEER PERSON!! Why the hell do we have to keep her busy while you have the time of your life?"

"That wasn't my idea! It was Heine who said that!" Athrun proclaimed. Shinn then realized, growled, and walked away to try and avoid making a fool of himself for creating a drama for nothing. Athrun simply shrugged it off, and left the school to make his way home.

When he arrived, he was attacked by a major hug from Cagalli. After recovering from the shock, he hugged her back.

"Hey," he started as they smiled at each other, "Did you miss me?"

"Where were you? You're three hours late! I was getting worried." Cagalli asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Geez, you're starting to sound like my mother." he started as Cagalli frowned a bit, "Anyway, I was at the school filing the extremely unorganized filing cabinet containing all the student's records." he explained.

"Why were you doing that?" Mrs. Zala asked.

"The price I'm paying to get Cagalli to the dance. I have two more drawers to go through. I went through A-I." he said as Cagalli hugged him again.

"Thanks Athrun. I don't know how to thank you."

"With a kiss, that's all." he said smiling, before he turned to his mother and raised his eyebrows signaling for her to leave.

"Alright, I'm gone." Mrs. Zala said walking into the other room with her arms in the air. And with that, Athrun and Cagalli kissed again for a couple minutes, pulled away, and hugged again. After that, Mr. Atha came by to pick Cagalli up. They said they're goodbyes, and looked forward to see each other on Friday again.

The next few days played along quite normally for once, all the usual happened, Yzak and Dearka acting like jerks, Kira and Nicol just chilling, Rey and Shinn still confused, Heine being well, himself, LunaMaria and Meyrin talking nonstop about their prom dates, and most of all, Cagalli and Meer getting impatient to get out of the house to dance with Athrun.

* * *

A/N: Ay! You're all probably majorly hate me for being a day late... yet again :D. I'll have to apologize, I was playing Okami all yesterday and I sorta forgot. Emphasize the "_sorta_" XD. Anyway, more about the chapter, again this wasn't all great either. But trust me, next chapter is the biggy :D. Oi, I'm feeling lonely without all my wonderful readers! Please review so I can be happy and know you actually read it :). I might just give up altogether if not. Le gasp. I know, tit's a scary thought. I think I'll begin to deveop some other stories too. I have so many ideas floating around in my head, I have to sort them all out and write! Most will be AsuCaga based, but iI might throw in some other pairings too. Yeah, anyway hope you guys enjoy the chapter and have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow :DD.

Kai


	10. Prom Night

**Chapter Ten: Prom Night**

As soon as he finished the last drawer in the filing cabinet, Athrun eagerly returned home to eat dinner and dress up for the night. When he arrived, he was greeted by his mother who in turn, realized his excitement, even though it was barely visible, but still clear enough to see he was.

"Looking forward to the prom?" she asked.

"Sorta." he answered trying his best to hide it.

"But you do know there is that one drawback."

"I know."

"Do you know how you're going to deal with it?" she asked for assurance.

"Yeah, my friends are going to try and cover me. Well at least I think they are." he explained. Mrs. Zala raised an eyebrow at him.

"And what if something goes wrong? What's your backup?" she asked eagerly. Athrun fell silent for a moment.

"I'm not sure. I'll figure out something soon." he said before heading upstairs.

Athrun walked into his room and took the tux he bought last Wednesday out of the closet and set it on his bed. Something white flashed by and fell on the ground as he was doing that but he ignored it for now. After that, he headed into the bathroom to take a shower. He planned on having it earlier because his hair would take about an hour to dry, and by that time he would put on his tux and go out to pick up Cagalli.

After fifteen minutes of bathing, he came out of the shower, dried himself off, and put a bathrobe on before heading downstairs to join his mother for dinner. He glanced at the clock on his way down. "_6:15"_ it read. Another hour and fifteen minutes before the prom started. He sat at the table and ate his dinner.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Meanwhile, Cagalli was overexcited about the prom and was already in her dress at 5:00pm. She just continually evaluated herself in the mirror. Two maids were in her room making sure she wouldn't ruin her makeup or outfit. Her hair had very slight green ribbons that tied the left and right sides of her hair. She had light green eyeliner on to match with her dress, and pink-tinted lip gloss on, with a bit of blush. It was a light green dress with a long bow on the front, and a wreath running across near the mid-bottom of it. She had golden bracelets on each wrist and wore the red necklace Athrun gave her. She had green heeled slippers that she wasn't too fond of. After looking at herself, she wondered if Athrun was going to like it. She turned to the two maids.

"Do you think Athrun will like this? I mean the way I'm dressed? Is it too skimpy, or too dressy, or what?"

"It's fine." the first said.

"Ugh. I want criticism here! Tell me the flaws!"

"There are none. You look absolutely gorgeous." the other said.

"Pfft I can't rely on you guys. I guess I'm going to have to wait until Athrun gives his opinion." she said before walking over to the windows and opening them. She enjoyed the cool breeze that wafted in. She stared over at Athrun's house and sighed.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Athrun, finally dressed in his tux walked over to the mirror, picked up his comb and ran it through his hair making sure there weren't any flaws, or at least any accountable. He took a breath mint, then walked towards the door about to leave before he noticed the paper on the ground. He picked it up and looked at it. He then remembered what it was. He smiled as he looked at the two people in it.

"My drawing, I was wondering where it was." he said to himself. It was a drawing of him and Cagalli, sleeping on his bed that Saturday. Then he thought of who must've put it in the closet. He obviously didn't. His mother doesn't dare to enter his room. His father is in the PLANTs and if he was visiting, he would've known. Then he smirked.

"Cagalli." he whispered before putting the picture back into place and left to go pick her up.

As he was walking towards her house, he noticed the couples being driven, or walking to the school. He then saw Kira stepping outside his car, and escorting Lacus out, then walking her into the school. The blue-haired boy finally made it to Atha Street, where he turned left to head towards the mansion. He made it up to the door, and rang the doorbell, only to be invited in by one of the maids.

"Hold on, let me get Miss Cagalli for you." she said as she walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to Cagalli's room. The door opened, and the princess walked out. She began to walk down the stairs as Athrun stared in awe. She started to feel a bit paranoid and nervous. She frowned.

"What?" she snapped at him. Athrun smiled.

"You look… beautiful." he commented as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She blushed a bit.

"You really think so?" she asked.

"Yeah. You look like a princess." he said.

"Don't call me that!"

"Sorry." he said as she grabbed his arm.

"So are we gonna go now?"

"If you're ready. I'm ready when you're ready."

"Okay let's go!" she pleaded and they both left the mansion and headed towards the school. They had a silly, tension-breaking conversation on the way there.

"I still can't believe I'm actually going to the prom with the most beautiful girl in ORB." he grinned.

"Oh shut up about that! I'm not that pretty."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!!"

"Well, sure if you want to think that way. But to me, you still are."

"Yeah, to you."

"Something wrong with that?"

"No, it's nothing."

"What? Tell me."

"Seriously Athrun, it's nothing. Just forget about it."

"I can't, I'll be thinking about it the whole time."

"Augh. Athrun, just shut up okay. It's literally nothing. I just made a sarcastic response. Can't you just accept that?"

"No, not really."

"YOU RETARD!" she screamed as se punched him and he laughed. Then they finally arrived at the school. He opened and held the door for Cagalli to walk in, then he walked in too.

**X-X-X-X-X**

As the two entered the gym, about a couple dozen guys turned over to look at Cagalli. Most stared in awe, some cat-called, and others smirked and joked with their buddies. Athrun grabbed her hand and walked her through the crowd. He then spotted his friend Kira waving and calling him over at the table he and Lacus were sitting at. Athrun led Cagalli to the table, and joined them.

"Hey Athrun, and… what's your name again?" Kira asked.

"Cagalli." she responded.

"Nice to meet you again. I'm Kira if you forgot."

"Right. Nice to meet you again Kira." Cagalli responded.

"Why, hello there. I'm Lacus. I'm sure you've heard of me before, but it's nice to meet you." the pink-haired girl said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too." the blonde said.

"Oh, I mustn't forget Athrun! Nice to see you again."

"Same to you." Athrun responded. He began to look at the decorations as Kira and Lacus continued to converse with Cagalli. There were streamers lining across the wall, balloons all over the place, and the stage was down with a microphone on it and some huge speakers playing some casual music as the students were still arriving. There were about thirty tables lined on the sides of the gym, most of which were occupied. The lights were dim, but brighter than they usually are at proms, again for the students arriving still. It wasn't too soon before the pink-haired impersonator walked in.

"Hey everyone! Meer's here!" she announced loudly as a bunch of guys turned away and cleared the door area. The pink-haired girl was wearing a skimpy hot pink dress, as well as her other two minions, Meyrin and LunaMaria. They walked in the middle of the gym and started looking around for their dates. Lacus and Cagalli stared at Meer in disgust, as she was their worst enemy. She then caught sight of two familiar green eyes and walked over to the table.

"Oh crap hide me." Athrun said before disappearing under the table.

"What's wrong?" Cagalli asked confusedly.

"Well… it's a long story…"

"Make it short she's almost here!"

"She called me and asked me out to the dance but I told her I wasn't going because I didn't want to hurt her."

"Pfft, why the hell would you care if she was hurt or not?"

"She might gave some creepy way of getting revenge and I don't want to deal with that."

"Good point." she commented as the retard finally reached the table.

"Hey, I thought I saw my little Athy-poo here." she said in a baby-like voice. Cagalli turned away, clenched her fist and gritted her teeth before letting out an answer.

"Nope, no Athy-poo here." she said.

"Hey look it's beast! What the hell are you doing here!?" she teased as Cagalli began to fume.

"Leave her alone. She hasn't done or said anything bad to you since you got here." Kira warned.

"Oh yeah? What gives you the authority to be commanding me to do things? This is a free country and I can do whatever I want!" she screamed back at him.

"Go ahead. I don't care if you go die somewhere on the other side of ORB for all I care." the pop princess said rather unusually rude.

"Excuse me?" she shot back at her before Shinn, Rey, and Heine appeared at the table.

"Well, you're looking awfully good tonight. Want to dance?" Heine encouraged. Meer blinked for a second.

"Uh, sure!" she said and they went off.

"Is she gone yet?" Athrun asked anxiously.

"Yeah, that chick is gone for the next twenty minutes if you ask me." Shinn said.

"Oh thank god you guys came." Athrun said before getting out from under the table.

**X-X-X-X-X**

About a half an hour into the dance, Meer still didn't return, and Athrun was getting a little anxiety from his boredom. Shinn and Rey were dancing with Luna and Meyrin, and Lacus and Kira were up on the stage, as Lacus sang one of her top hits. Athrun decided he should get up and dance with Cagalli.

'_Shizukana kuno yoru ni anata wo maeteru no…' _she sang.

"Cagalli, let's dance."

"What!? Now!?"

"Yeah, that's kinda what we came here for."

"Uh, right. Let's go." she said nervously. They stood up and headed towards the opposite end of the gym from Meer. Athrun placed his arms around her waist and Cagalli had her arms around his neck. Cagalli awkwardly moved and almost tripped and fell.

"I can't dance." she complained.

"Come on, don't give up already! We just got started. Here I'll teach you how." he said beginning to show her the way to move her feet and avoid accidents. Nearing the end of the song, she finally started to get the hang of it, and actually enjoyed it.

"I didn't know dancing was this fun!" she laughed.

"Let's keep on dancing." he exclaimed in excitement. Cagalli smiled at him.

"Alright, now I'm going to sing 'Mizu No Akashi' as my next song!" she said enthusiastically as everyone cheered.

'_Mizu no naka ni yoni ga yureteru kanashii hodo shizukana tada tsuni…'_

"Here's your chance Cagalli. Show me what you got." he said to her. They danced slowly, gracefully, and didn't miss a beat. No screw-ups, accidents, nothing of the sort. They were both lost in their own minds swinging to the slow rhythm of the song until it ended. But that's just when things got crazy. Lacus and Kira left the stage, while Meer rushed up, grabbed the mic, and announced her song.

"Hey everyone, how are you all doing out there?" she called to everyone and all was heard was a grim '_good_' from everyone. "Great! Now, I'm going to sing 'Emotion' so I hope you all are ready!" and a few cheered.

'_Anata no kake ba hohome mi uchi shite namida no shizuku samimama no kushi temu…_'

Athrun quivered as he heard her sing the overly-happy pop song being sung by his biggest fan who frankly would have a better view of the people on the stage. He decided to take Cagalli into the middle of the crowd where she couldn't see them. They started to dance to the fast rhythm, before Shinn and Luna broke it down in the middle of the gym which cleared up the crowd, hence leaving Athrun visible to Meer's eye.

**X-X-X-X-X**

"_Omocho kito nani yu kara ima no kare-_ATHY-POO!!" she screamed to the top of her lungs before Athrun grabbed Cagalli's wrist and dashed for the door. Meer moved like a hungry leopard, despite her heels.

The couple escaped the gym, and headed into the hallway, but kept running and didn't stop, nor did Meer. They twisted and looped around the hallways, going up staircases, and taking shortcuts, and finally hid behind a wall waiting for Meer to come by. When she made it around the corner, Cagalli stuck out her leg just in time to trip her. She fell flat on her face, and Athrun and Cagalli giggled before continuing to run. Meer growled and continued her chase.

The two made it outside, and ran across the field into the marshy area full of bugs and lizards which obviously Meer didn't like at all. She stopped and stared at the forest fuming.

"ATHRUN!! GET BACK HERE! YOU LIED TO ME YOU BIG JERK! I HATE YOU!!" she screamed before crying and running away.

Meanwhile, the two ventured through the muddy and wet green land.

"Where are we going?" Cagalli asked curiously.

"I dunno." he responded.

"Then why are we going this way?"

"To explore."

"What do you mean explo-!!" she screamed as they both fell in a mud puddle. They both got up and Athrun started to laugh.

"Dammit! My dress! It's ruined!" she exclaimed throwing a slop of mud at Athrun. He grimaced.

"Don't throw mud at me!" he teased as he threw another slop back at her.

"Hey! You can't do that to a girl!" she screamed as she flung a whole load of mud at him.

"Oh yeah?" he said pushing her into the mud.

"Bastard!" she screamed pulling him in with her. He willingly fell in and starting kissing her.

**X-X-X-X-X**

After about five minutes, they decided to head to Athrun's house and wash off. With the hose. Athrun's mother was a bit of a neat freak so she wanted them to be rinsed off before stepping back into the house. Athrun headed into the backyard with Cagalli. He grabbed the hose, and turned it on.

"Do you want to be cleansed first?" he asked.

"Whatever." she said as she grabbed the hose and started to wash herself off. Goosebumps appeared all over her arms as she shivered. She shook it off and continued to wash herself but stopped again when she noticed Athrun was watching. "Do you mind!?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." he said before turning around. She finished washing herself off, then turned to Athrun and grinned as an evil thought crossed her mind. All was heard was a high-pitched squeal and a wet blonde on the ground laughing.

"Shut up! That water's really cold!" Athrun frowned in embarrassment picking up the hose and rinsed himself off. Cagalli was on the ground rolling around for about five minutes until she actually stopped.

"Athrun you scream like a friggin chick!!" she just barely got out before continuing to laugh.

"You shut up okay? I was warm and not expecting you to squirt me with ice cold water. It was shocking."

"I don't know what was more shocking, the cold water or your feminine squeal." Cagalli laughed. Athrun sighed and shook his head and aimed the hose at her face and soaked it. She coughed and gagged on the water.

"GIVE ME THAT HOSE!!" she screamed angrily and at the same time playfully. Athrun sprinted away from her, shooting water at her every now and then until she finally caught up and tackled him. She grabbed the hose and squirted it all over him. He grabbed it too and the two had a water feud, that is until Mrs. Zala came and turned off the hose.

"Okay guys, I see you've washed yourselves. No need to waste anymore water now." she said giggling at the position they were in. Cagalli was sitting on top of Athrun who was currently on his back and they were both looking at her, then at themselves, then scrambled off each other to head towards Mrs. Zala who was holding the towels.

After wiping themselves off, they got undressed, and into some other clothes; Cagalli having to borrow some of Athrun's old clothes, as Mrs. Zala washed their formerly beautiful, but now soaked and slightly dirty outfits. Cagalli was in a really baggy shirt that went down to her knees, and some old shorts that went a slight bit higher than her mid-upper-leg. The three sat on the couch in the living room talking about their experience.

"So how did the prom go?" Mrs. Zala eagerly asked.

"It was so fun! Half the time we weren't even at the prom!" Cagalli cheered.

"Glad you enjoyed it, what did you think of it Athrun?" she asked the smiling boy.

"I thought it was the best experience ever. I'm also pleased to hear Cagalli enjoyed it too." he said putting his arm around Cagalli. She smiled at him and kissed him at the cheek.

"Thank you Athrun." she whispered in his ear.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Later that night, Mr. Atha picked Cagalli up after her and Athrun talked about the party Kira invited them to the next day. They decided to go together, as usual. Little did they know what the next day would turn into.

* * *

A/N: Alright, hope you guys liked this chapter because it's mostly the climax of the story. I sure enjoyed writing it. Anyway, I'm still writing up chapter 11, and I'm at a stump of ideas. I know it's supposed to be Kira's party, but I don't know how to go about it. I got to a part where Athrun and Cagalli went to his house and then I lost my ideas. I'll think about it. Sadly, this fanfic is coming to an end, but it was my most successful fanfic I've ever wrote so I'm proud. After this one ends, I'm planning on making one about Athrun and he 'mysteriously' has a clone of himself created. How fun XP. I might make one about the aftermath of Athrun and Cagalli's break up which will only last maybe 2-4 chapters. Only for those fans who are upset about it like I was. Okay, I'm done talking, please review! 


	11. Fate

**Chapter 11: Fate**

Cagalli awoke dazedly, a warm smile forming on her lips remembering the events of the previous night. She sat up, stretched, and yawned before kicking the covers off to head downstairs for breakfast. The air smelt of stir-fry, eggs, and coffee. The delicious smelling aroma attracted the blonde and lead her to the breakfast table, where she sat with her father and began putting her food on the plate.

"Good morning," she greeted.

"Morning. How was the prom last night? You barely got a chance to tell me about it in the car since you fell asleep." he asked.

"Oh, it was great. We had more fun outside of the prom than at the prom." she started.

"Really? How so?" he asked curiously as Cagalli rose an eyebrow in confusion.

"Haven't you seen the condition of my dress?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's perfectly as it was." he explained now himself getting in a bit of a puzzlement.

'_Damn, she did a pretty damn good job of cleaning it.' _Cagalli thought. "Oh, well I guess it wasn't too bad that I spilled punch all over myself. Mrs. Zala must be an expert at cleaning stains." she said, slipping out a quick lie.

"Ah," he said, feeling slightly reassured, not knowing whether to trust his daughter's words or not. "So anyway, what did you guys do?" he asked as Cagalli almost choked on her egg.

"Well, uh… we danced a bit, and I ended up spilling punch all over myself, then me and Athrun headed back to his house and we sat on the couch for a while." she said with a bead of sweat trickling down her face at her father's intense stare.

"What really happened?" he demanded crossing his arms. Cagalli gulped.

"Well," she paused thinking about how she was going to word the statement, "we left the prom earlier than usual escaping this freak fangirl of Athrun's, and we kinda went into a marsh…" she started.

"Go on," her father signaled to continue.

"And we kinda fell in some mud, so we went back to his house to wash off with the hose, and I thought my dress would be ruined after all that, but Mrs. Zala must've done an exceptional job of cleaning it." she finished. Mr. Atha gave her a strange look before shrugging it off.

"Well, at least you had fun." he said before walking towards the front door. "I'm going to work now, I'll pick you up after the party. And head to Athrun's house when you're done doing what you need to do here. I told Mrs. Zala to expect you there by about 11am."

"Kay." Cagalli called before he left the door. She quickly finished up her breakfast and put the dishes in the dishwasher before heading upstairs to shower and get dressed to head to Athrun's. After removing her clothes, she stuck her arm into the running water testing the temperature, before stepping into the steamy cell. She tensed at first just getting used to the heat, then relaxed and began to wash herself. The blonde decided to take a longer shower this time, and sat on the ledge, letting the water pound on her figure.

**X-X-X-X-X**

A very impatient and restless Athrun paced the house getting more and more anxious by the minute. Mrs. Zala began to get annoyed after watching this for the past half hour.

"What's with you? Don't you know how to sit down for a second?" she called.

"Yeah, but Cagalli was supposed to be here an hour and a half ago! What's taking her!?" he exclaimed as Mrs. Zala shrugged. He clenched his fist before deciding he should go check on her.

"I'm going to go get her. I can't wait any longer." he said before dashing out the door as his mother shook her head.

The blue haired boy darted across the street and walked a couple blocks before he finally reached the Atha mansion. He walked up to the front door and rang the door bell. Not a sound. He rang again. Still nothing. He rang once more. Again, nothing happened. So he began to knock. Then knocked harder and harder, but still no response. Finally, he tried opening the door and it worked. "What the, it's unlocked?" he said before entering the huge house.

Two green eyes studies the surroundings. In front of him was a stair way to the upper floor, to his left a huge kitchen, and to his right, a living room; actually two. There was probably much more to it, just not visible to the front. Upstairs, he heard the shower on, and he assumed Cagalli was in there. He decided to wait until she came out so they could leave. Athrun sat on the nearby chair boredly, staring at the childhood photos of Cagalli on the walls.

The amber eyed blonde turned the fosset off to leave the shower and dry off. She combed her messy hair and hung her wet towel on the shower door to dry. Cagalli turned the fan on to blow out the humidity from the hot shower she just had. After applying some finishing touches to herself, she decided to go out and head to her room to get some clothes on. She assumed since she was home alone with no one else in the house, she'd walk there clothe less, I mean it was only five rooms from the bathroom anyway.

Athrun's head snapped up at the sound of the door opening, only to realize what he was looking at. Cagalli barely realized what was going on when she caught sight of the blue haired boy staring _right_ at her. His jaw dropped at the same time he was observing her features. She finally realized her naked self was being exposed to the wandering eyes of Athrun. The blonde let out a scream before madly dashing to her room and slamming the door, face red as a tomato. Athrun nearly went insane remembering what he was seeing on who. He finally snapped out of it and ran upstairs to wait at the door to Cagalli's room. She knew he was there.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked embarrassingly.

"I, uh… came to pick you up because you're kinda late." he said blushing at the reoccurring image of her appearing in his mind. She glanced at the time before heading towards her closet, but stopping not thinking she could face Athrun again after what he saw.

"I don't want to come out." she said.

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know if I can face you ever again without feeling awkward about it." she said blushing a bit.

"What're you talking about? Are you still embarrassed about me seeing you… well… yeah." he started. "It's alright, I won't treat you any different just because of that incident. I mean, you've seen me naked too, right?" he tried to encourage her a bit.

"Yeah, but that was different." she said twirling her hair around her index finger. Athrun sighed as he sat down and leaned his back against the door.

"Fine, I'm just going to sit here and wait for you to come out then." he said stubbornly. Cagalli frowned and stomped towards her closet to throw some clothes on before walking back towards the door. She opened it quickly, causing Athrun to fall on his back, only to see the annoyed eyes of Cagalli staring down on him.

"I'm assuming you're ready?" he asked, still on the floor. Cagalli tried her best to hold back a laugh from staring at his goofy posture.

"Yeah, let's go." she said rushingly, then stepping over Athrun, not really caring if she stepped on him or not. He grabbed her leg, and she tumbled over. Athrun gave a huge laugh.

"You retard, stop laughing!" she screamed in embarrassment, pulling her leg out of his hand. She crawled over him and punched his shoulder, but he just pulled her to him and kissed her. "Mmmph mmmph!!!" she muffled out. The amber eyed girl pushed herself off of him to say what she had to say. "Would you cut the crap and stop acting so immature!" she screamed at him as soon as she got up.

"I'm just trying to have a little fun," the green eyed boy teased sitting up, "why don't you loosen up a bit?" Athrun smiled. The blonde only crossed her arms and turned away, starting to walk down the stairs. He chased after her, and they both headed out the door to walk over to Athrun's.

**X-X-X-X-X**

When they arrived at the Zala household, they were greeted by Athrun's mother, following a sweet smell of freshly made bakery. They were lead into the kitchen and were left with a tray of some chocolate chip cookies. As pleasant as it sounded, unfortunately the both completely loved chocolate cookies, and they weren't just about to back down on taking them all just because they were in love.

"I love cookies!" Cagalli exclaimed excitedly.

"Me too." Athrun replied.

"Too bad I won't leave anymore left for you." Cagalli grinned and stuck a tongue out at him before dashing towards the goodies.

"Oh, yes you will." Athrun smirked chasing after Cagalli. Cagalli was the first to reach the table, then took about five cookies and stuffed them in her mouth. Athrun reached over and took six cookies and stuffed them in his mouth.

"Beat that." he muffled out, with crumbs falling out of his mouth. After Cagalli finished what was in her mouth, she grabbed eight cookies and stuffed them in her mouth.

"Beat _that_." she boasted with crumbs also falling out of her mouth. Athrun frowned and grabbed ten cookies and shoved them in his mouth while the remains of the last batch were still in his mouth.

"Bea-COUGH COUGH COUGH!!" was all that came out before he began to choke on the cookies he wasn't able to swallow and Cagalli laughed. He ran to the garbage can to spit out the cookies in his mouth, and took a long drink of water to get the rest down.

"You're such an idiot." the amber-eyed girl giggled as Athrun grinned feeling proud of himself for looking like an idiot.

**X-X-X-X-X**

Later on during the late evening, the two left the Zala household and headed towards Kira's place. They decided to go down to the corner store to buy some balloons they were going to use for a game at the party. Cagalli walked into the store first, squinting her eyes at the bright light of the area compared to the near-dark surroundings of outside. Athrun headed straight for the balloons and went to go purchase them while Cagalli looked among the different isles and sections of the store. She stopped particularly at the candy section, where her eyes roamed over the different colours of the gummy candy, hard candy, lollipops, and the rest of the artificially created foods. A smile came upon her face as she marvelled over them. Then Athrun came back over.

"What are you up to?"

"Nothing. Just looking at the candies." she said turning away from the candies, and pretending she never really paid attention to them.

"Oh really, you looked pretty interested in them." Athrun smirked.

"Well, I wasn't. Candies are gross, they're only for kids." she said, while Athrun walked away with a couple of lollipops heading towards the cashier.

He paid for them and began to eat one in front of her'_Damn,_' she thought '_I really like those flavours._'. Then Athrun turn to her and smiled, as if he was teasing her. Cagalli frowned back at him and he chuckled, turning around. Sneakily, she stole the one he was holding loosely in his hand, slightly giving her the hint that he wanted her to take it. '_She gave in too easily_' he thought '_I guess candy is yet another of her weaknesses_'. Athrun smiled and held her hand.

As they left the store, the two headed towards the street, where they were to cross and head down the street the party was being held at. But something was missing. Athrun reached his hands into his pockets. Nothing.

"Where the hell is it!?" he said to himself.

"What?"

"The balloons!"

"You don't have them with you!?!"

"I must've left them in the store on the countertop when I bought the lollipops."

"Way to go genius." Cagalli spat at him with sarcasm.

"Hold on. You stay here, I'll go get the balloons." he said sprinting back to the store. Cagalli stood there impatiently, twisting the lollipop in her mouth, fondling it with her tongue. Then she bit it, but not hard enough to break it. She wondered what Kira was doing, and how the party was going, since they were _now_ late. She decided to walk back and forth, in attempt to pass the time. Then Cagalli remembered she stole Athrun's MP3 player when he wasn't looking, and pulled it out of her coat pocket to listen to. She found a good song and turned the volume up louder. The amber-eyed girl was partially content.

Athrun finally came out of the store, and walked back to the place Cagalli was. Suddenly, he heard loud beeping noises and car screeches from afar, but not too far from where Cagalli was. He rushed to the area, and saw Cagalli, obviously not noticing what was going on, and screamed her name. She didn't hear him. She couldn't hear anything. Athrun then saw the source of the noise. A speeding car swerving and moving aimlessly out of control coming down the street in the direction of Cagalli. Behind it, a police car, tailing it, and trying to get it to stop. Athrun foresaw the worst happening. He ran as fast as he could towards Cagalli and leapt.

Soon after a loud crashing noise, there was nothing left but silence and the blaring noise of the police car.

* * *

A/N: Yeah I suddenly reappeared. Sorry for the lack of updates. I kinda had a bit of a writers block, my head couldn't think of any ideas. But I hope this one was a real twist. I suck at making something suspenseful so don't kill me for the lameness. Anyway, not much else to say. I think there will only be like one more chapter after this one. But I dunno, I may have a mini chapter just to end it off. We'll see. Whatever works well for me. 

Kai


End file.
